Church History: First Reformed Church, Lancaster, Lancaster County, PA Copy contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by Abby Bowman Copyright 2006. All rights reserved. http://www.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb/copyright.htm http://www.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb/pa/lancaster/ ________________________________________________ History of the Classis of Lancaster of the Eastern Synod of the Reformed Church in the United States, 1852-1940; Part II, Histories of the Congregations of the Classis of Lancaster, Pg. 204-213 Printed by The New Holland Clarion, New Holland, PA; Editors Rev. Daniel G. Glass, Rev. C. George Bachman, Rev. Harry E. Shepardson, Rev. John F. Frantz, Rev. J. N. Le Van, D.D. ________________________________________________ THE FIRST REFORMED CHURCH OF LANCASTER Rev. Wm. H. Bollman, D.D., Pastor The exact date of the founding of First Reformed Church, Lancaster, is not known. Some time between 1725 and 1732 Reformed people of the community began worshipping in each others' homes, and with the "Hill Church". By 1732 there must have been a congregational organization, for when Conrad Tempelmann wrote to Holland in February, 1733, he described the Lancaster congregation as already consisting of 30 members, and mentioned three elders, John Jacob Hock, Andrew Halsbrum, and a third, unreadable, perhaps Nicholas Treber. This is the earliest record of the congregation now known as First Church. Nothing further is heard of it until the year 1736, when a log church was built upon the lot at Orange and Christian Streets where the present building stands. Immediately following the dedication of this building, John Jacob Hock, undoubtedly the same mentioned above, started the first record book of the church (still in existence), which he entitled "Church Protocol of the newly-built Reformed Church here in the island of Pennsylvania in Caunastoken in the new town named Lancaster". He began the record with an account of the dedication on June 20, the festival of Holy Whitsuntide. He himself opened the service with the reading of Isaiah 35: 1, "The wilderness and the solitary places shall be glad for them: And the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose". His sermon was upon Psalm 103: 4, "Who crowneth thee with loving kindness and tender mercies", and the congregation sang the 84th Psalm. John Jacob Hock, mentioned first as elder, then in his own words as "teacher, preacher or pastor, called to this office of God", was most probably never ordained, but, like Boehm and Tempelmann, served because he felt his services needed, and ceased to do so when a better qualified man was found for his place. The first regularly ordained minister to serve this church was John Bartholomew Rieger, whose gravestone may still be seen in the plot in the rear of the church. He had studied for the ministry at Heidelberg and Basel, and was commissioned for the American ministry by the authorities of the Church of the Palatinate. He served the congregation from 1739-43, when he returned to Germany to study medicine, which he later practiced in Lancaster. During his pastorate the church received its permanent title to the lot on Orange Street, in a deed of gifts executed by James Hamilton, 1741, to the "Reformed Church of the High Dutch Protestants in the town of Lancaster". A brief and unsatisfactory pastorate of Caspar Lewis Schnorr, whom Dutch records described as "an ecclesiastical vagabond", was followed by a vacancy which lasted until the memorable arrival of Michael Schlatter, who visited the church for the first time, September 23, 1746. He found Rieger, who had returned to Lancaster, supplying the church, but not installed as its pastor. Schlatter interested himself in the congregation, as in all others of the province, visited it frequently, administered communion and performed baptisms, and sent a plea in their name to Holland, which was answered by the Rev. John Jacob Hochreutiner, who was tragically killed on his way to Lancaster. After this calamity, the church continued pastorless until 1749, being supplied meanwhile by Dominicus Bartholomaus, of Tulpehocken, and Philip Leydich, of Falkner Swamp. It was during this interim that the church bought from the brethren at Ephrata, the four-faced clock, and the bell which for a time hung on the hickory tree in Penn Square. In 1750, Rev. Ludwig Ferdinand Vock was secured at a salary of forty pounds per year, but he was unable to adapt himself to the needs of the congregation, and left in 1751. In July, 1752, Michael Schlatter returned from a visit to Holland, accompanied by six young preachers, among them Philip William Otterbein, who came directly to Lancaster and began here a memorable pastorate of six years. In this time he strengthened the somewhat lax discipline of the church, introduced the practice of personally interviewing each member before communion, and inspired the building of the stone church, 1753. This edifice, which served the congregation for one hundred years, cost 1,018 pounds. It faced upon Christian Street, and its "goblet-formed" pulpit was in the east end. The door of this building was closed with the famous old lock, made by Peter Kieffer in 1756, and still to be seen upon the west door of the present church. It bears the quaint description: Nun gehen wir zur Kirchen ein, Und unser Heiland Jesus Christ Wolle bei uns sein. Ja, nicht nur heit allein Und so lange wir auf erden sein, Sondern so lang das unsere Seele lebet. Jesus Gottes Sohn Hat die chren Kron; Er wolle doch uns auch helfen In Dem Himmel's Thron. Ich bin kommen, die Suender zur Busse zu ruffen, und nicht die Frommen. Matthew IX:13. Do. Otterbein was succeeded by the Rev. William Stoy, a picturesque if not wholly orthodox figure who combined medical practice with preaching, and seemed to prefer hunting to either profession. His church-discipline was as easy-going as the Rev. Mr. Otterbein's had been severe. Under his pastorate, however, the church prospered materially, about fifty members being added to the congregation, a parsonage and schoolhouse were erected on Duke Street, and paid for by a lottery conducted jointly with St. James Episcopal Church. The parochial school, which had been conducted since an undetermined date early in the congregation's history, had at this time sixty pupils. After the resignation of Rev. Mr. Stoy in 1763, the pulpit was again vacant until 1765, when the Rev. Dr. William Hendel came to the church for his first pastorate. Dr. Hendel was among the most distinguished men ever to serve this congregation. A cultured man, a profound scholar and a notable preacher, he served the church until 1769, and returned to it later for a second pastorate. During this first period of service, he baptized, December 14, 1766, a baby girl named Barbara Hauer, later to appear in literature and history as Barbara Frietchie. In 1769, the congregation purchased an organ of sixteen stops, built by David Tannenberg, of Lititz, at a cost of 250 pounds, the case of which is still in use in the present church. The organ was housed in a balcony, built at the same time, to accommodate the rapidly growing congregation. From 1771 to 1775 the church was served by Charles Lewis Boehm, who, in addition to his regular duties, conducted services in French for the benefit of the French traders in the city. At this time the arrangement was discontinued whereby the pastor of the Lancaster church had hitherto supplied the church at Pequea every fourth Sunday. This was done because of the increasing size of the Lancaster congregation and the heavier duties of the pastor. In January 1776, the Rev. John Conrad Helffenstein came to the pastorate, in which he served until 1779. He was an enthusiast for the Revolution, although himself but newly come from Germany. He preached a number of fiery sermons to the soldiers and new recruits. He also preached to the Hessian prisoners, taken captives at Trenton and confined at Lancaster, but his sermons to them can scarcely have been comforting, since he chose such texts as Isaiah 53:3, "Ye have sold yourselves for naught, and ye shall be redeemed without money". In the consistory minutes of 1778, apropos of the fact that the expenses of the congregation had increased from 50 pounds to 274 pounds, the secretary made the following explanation to future readers: Since some of our posterity may perhaps wonder at the great difference in the congregation's expenses between this and the previous years, this is to inform them that the famine was so great in 1777, and is still, that many items of expense were double, thribble, and in some cases even ten-fold what they had previously been, and it is a great blessing that the congregation is at all able to meet them, as it has done. You, our posterity, remember that we, your fathers, saw and endured such times on account of our sins and many transgressions! Fear ye the Lord, and serve Him according to His word, so will He, in mercy, preserve you from such times, as we hope He will, for Christ's sake, soon relieve us from them! The Rev. John Theobald Faber, Jr., who succeeded Rev. Mr. Helffenstein in 1779, served until 1782, when Rev. Mr. Hendel returned for his second pastorate which lasted until 1794. During this period he was most active in the establishment of Franklin College, of which he was made vice president. For his labors in this work, he received the degree of D.D. from Princeton College. In 1793, when the General Synod held its first meeting in First Church, he was appointed chairman of the Synodical Committee, appointed to compile the first Reformed Church Hymnal. This work he accomplished practically alone, and the book (published in 1797) was generally spoken of as "Hendel's Hymnbook". He left Lancaster for Philadelphia in 1794, and there in 1798 sacrificed his life in unselfish service to the sick during the yellow-fever epidemic. During this second pastorate of Dr. Hendel, the church purchased the two bells which still hang in its belfry, and built a steeple to hold them, and in the same year put up a beautiful glass chandelier. Dr. Hendel was followed in the pastorate by Dr. Christian Lewis Becker, 1795- 1806, and Rev. John Henry Hoffmeier, 1806-1838. Under the charge of the latter the church was remodeled, and a Sunday School established (1832). The latter part of his long ministry, however, was marred by the beginning of the painful quarrels which attended the change from the German to the English language. There were only a few of the congregation left who could understand no English, and while there were more who, while using English in general, still preferred the German, the majority were now composed of persons who liked the English best and some who barely understood German. Between these two groups there was increasing friction which continued during the pastorate of Rev. George W. Glessner (1840-47). At his resignation, the English group succeeded in electing their candidate to the pulpit, the Rev. N. A. Keyes, a former missionary to India from the Congregational Church, who spoke no German, whatever, and was entirely unacquainted with the situation. It was intended that the German group should be served by another pastor who should, at the same time serve the Millerstown charge, but this arrangement was never effected. For three years the Germans were supplied by Rev. D. Y. Heisler, of Columbia, but the situation became more and more irksome to both parties. In spite of the admirable attempts at conciliation on the part of Rev. Keyes, who acted with great dignity and restraint in what must have been for him a very trying situation, the church finally came to an open breach. Although the English group were in the majority and were paying most of the church expenses, the legal rights to the church property seemed to be with the Germans, whose fore- fathers had built the church, and the English withdrew to form the Second Church (now St. Paul's) taking as their share, that part of the church grounds and cemetery lying at the southwest corner of Duke and Orange Streets, where they erected a new brick building in 1851. The German congregation, after the reorganization called a pastor, Rev. Henry Harbaugh, of Lewisburg, a rising young minister who was already making a name for himself as a writer on religious subjects, and had just begun the publication of a monthly magazine, "The Guardian", which was to be standard light reading in Reformed families for a generation. Rev. Harbaugh was a man of varied talents and tremendous energy. During his ten years in Lancaster he published more than twenty books and pamphlets, continued to edit his magazine, preached an average of 175 sermons a year, helped Dr. Schaff to prepare the Order of Worship which was first used in this church, was active in gathering money for the new hall at Franklin and Marshall College, and a tireless worker on its board of trustees. In 1852 the congregation tore down the stone church, and built the present building, which was consecrated in 1854. The spirit of contention which had manifested itself in 1847 was, unfortunately, not dead. While the large majority of the congregation loved their pastor and approved of his acts, a small group of malcontents, largely antagonized by Rev. Harbaugh's outspoken temperance principles, caused him great distress and trouble which, in 1857-58 led to a trial of the offending members before Classis, at which the minister was entirely vindicated and his enemies excommunicated. The Rev. Amos H. Kremer, who served the congregation from 1861-1877 had a more quiet pastorate. By 1871 the heavy debt incurred in the building of the church was cleared. In 1870 the remaining German-speaking members withdrew, with very little dissension and founded St. John's German Reformed Church, so that services in First Church were thenceforward exclusively in English. In 1872 the graves were moved from the old graveyard back of the church, and part of the ground sold for building purposes. Rev. Mr. Kremer was followed by Dr. John A. Peters (1878-1884). During his first year at the church the General Synod met in this church for its famous "Peace Session" at which danger of a split in the denomination over the questions of the Mercersburg theology and the Liturgical Controversy was, happily, averted. In 1883 more of the church ground was sold and part of the money went to pay for a new organ, the first since that built by Tannenberg. In the same year the charter of the church was changed to make the name officially, "The First Reformed Church, of Lancaster, Pa". Dr. John M. Titzel, who followed Dr. Peters, served from 1885-1904, a long, prosperous and uneventful pastorate. Under his firm and quiet guidance, the church forgot its troubled years, and concerned itself with the things of the spirit. A scholarly and active man, Dr. Titzel served both the community and the denomination acceptably. Owing to the failing health of Dr. Titzel, in 1901, W. Stuart Cramer was appointed assistant pastor, and upon the pastor's death in 1905, was installed as pastor, continuing in service until his own death in 1930. As he came to First Church immediately after his graduation from the Seminary, this was the only charge which Cr. Cramer ever served, and he was absent from it only for a short time, during the war of 1917-1918, when he served as Secretary of the War- Time Commission of the Federal Council of Churches in Christ in America. In 1924, together with Dr. Charles E. Schaeffer, he dedicated the Reformed Memorial Church at Chateau Thierry, France, erected with money secured by him from members of the Reformed Church in the United States. During his pastorate many improvements were made in the church, the memorial window to Dr. Harbaugh was dedicated, and the beautifully carved lecturn and pulpit were installed. In 1923 the Diffenbach Home for the Aged was established at 319 North Duke Street. In 1932 Rev. William H. Bollman was called to succeed Dr. Cramer, and has served the church since that time. During his pastorate the parsonage and Sunday School rooms have been renovated, the Sunday School has been departmentalized and a full-time Director of Religious Education added to the staff. In 1836 the 200th anniversary of the Erection of the Old Log Church was celebrated with almost a full year of activity and study, during which time money was raised to pay off the old debt of $15,000. The celebration culminated in the period between Whitsunday and June 20, the dates mentioned in the old "Protocol" of John Jacob Hock. Solemn services were held in the church and a pageant dramatizing the history above recited was given in Hensel Hall at Franklin and Marshall College. At this time also an historical booklet entitled "Two Hundred Years and More of First Reformed Church", written by Dr. C. Nevin Heller, was issued by the congregation. On June 20, a corporate communion of the entire membership brought the Anniversary celebration to a fitting conclusion.