[2020-08-21: added photo below of Wyneken while a pastor in Baltimore (from CTS-FW Media)]
This continues from Part 7 (Table of Contents in Part 3), a series presenting an English translation of Pastor Christian Hochstetter's 1885 496-page book entitled (abbreviated) The History of the Missouri Synod, 1838-1884. — What follows is one of the more pleasant chapters in Hochstetter, for it tells the story of the colorful life of Missionary/Pastor/President Friedrich Wyneken. And Hochstetter adds another narrative about Wyneken's life to other existing histories. I found Hochstetter's history to be one of the best accounts – who can forget the images portrayed of this fiery, passionate missionary, by his admirer Hochstetter? — We have blogged before about Wyneken. Although there are other writings about this well-known figure in Missouri's history, I invite readers who may have read from modern historians to set them aside, and just read Hochstetter's account which is the only one personally approved by both CHI Director Suelflow and C.F.W. Walther.
This continues from Part 7 (Table of Contents in Part 3), a series presenting an English translation of Pastor Christian Hochstetter's 1885 496-page book entitled (abbreviated) The History of the Missouri Synod, 1838-1884. — What follows is one of the more pleasant chapters in Hochstetter, for it tells the story of the colorful life of Missionary/Pastor/President Friedrich Wyneken. And Hochstetter adds another narrative about Wyneken's life to other existing histories. I found Hochstetter's history to be one of the best accounts – who can forget the images portrayed of this fiery, passionate missionary, by his admirer Hochstetter? — We have blogged before about Wyneken. Although there are other writings about this well-known figure in Missouri's history, I invite readers who may have read from modern historians to set them aside, and just read Hochstetter's account which is the only one personally approved by both CHI Director Suelflow and C.F.W. Walther.
Some quotes from Chapter 4: (p. 91-119)
91: "The Saxon pastors… did not enter this country as missionaries"
92: "When Wyneken read much of the church plight of German Lutherans in the United States… in mission papers at home, the great misery of these people went to his heart"
96: "On October 2 [1838] Wyneken began his first major missionary journey."
98: "A man came up to Wyneken and asked with a self-important air: 'Tell me, Pastor, do you really believe what you preach? I don't believe it.' Wyneken replied immediately, 'And when the devil has you by the throat and is pulling you into hell, you just scream and scream away, 'I don't believe it, I don't believe it, I don't believe it’. With that, Wyneken got on his horse and rode away."
105: "He gave me a sad account of how people everywhere fell to the Methodists and were suddenly inspired by them against our church."
107: "…no one was more severe on himself than Wyneken."
110: "In Columbus, Ohio, [Ohio Synod] there was never to be a permanent place for truly German theologians."
116: "People used to say that in relation to the doctrine for which Prof. Walther brought the right light, Wyneken's word was like thunder following lightning! ‘The Lord had also placed him,’ writes Prof. Walther in a short obituary, ‘as His instrument in these manifold councils to make the Gospel resound loud and clear,’ — for this he was a man of action"
Images of men appearing in Chapter 4:
105: "He gave me a sad account of how people everywhere fell to the Methodists and were suddenly inspired by them against our church."
107: "…no one was more severe on himself than Wyneken."
110: "In Columbus, Ohio, [Ohio Synod] there was never to be a permanent place for truly German theologians."
116: "People used to say that in relation to the doctrine for which Prof. Walther brought the right light, Wyneken's word was like thunder following lightning! ‘The Lord had also placed him,’ writes Prof. Walther in a short obituary, ‘as His instrument in these manifold councils to make the Gospel resound loud and clear,’ — for this he was a man of action"
Images of men appearing in Chapter 4:
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| Wyneken – Otterbein – Sihler – Craemer – A. Ernst – C.A.T. Selle – Wucherer – Brandt – Loehe – Baierlein – Sievers |
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The following is an English translation of C. Hochstetter's Geschichte… by BackToLuther utilizing the DeepL Translator with minor assistance from Dr. Fred Kramer's translation. All hyperlinks, highlighting and red text in square brackets [] are mine. All internal hyperlinks are active in this embedded window, external links should be opened in a new tab or window.
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The History of the Missouri Synod, 1838-1884, Chapter 4
By Christian Hochstetter
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Friedrich Conrad Dietrich Wyneken, the father of the German-American mission. [Arrival in America (93); First missionary journey (94); Fight against Methodists (98); Description of Methodist revival (99); Plea for Distressed Lutherans in America (103); Remarks on Wyneken’s plea – Germany and Loehe respond, Adam Ernst (107); Sihler to America (110); Craemer arrives, Indian mission - Frankenmuth (112); Wyneken’s later work (114); W. called to St. Louis (115); W. retires, his passing (118)]
How did it come about that a Synod was formed, whose territory now extends from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean, and from Canada to the southernmost states of the North American Union? So some readers may want to ask. The Saxon pastors who have been reported up to now did not enter this country as missionaries, but were from the very beginning connected with their congregations, located in a small spot of the territory through which the Mississippi flows. It was significant that the city of St. Louis was the first meeting place for Saxon emigration, a city which now forms a central point between the east and west of North America; but at that time, around 1840, the number of Germans in the state of Missouri was still small, and even in neighboring Illinois, where so many German-Lutheran congregations now flourish, immigration was in its first beginnings. Large numbers of Germans had already settled not only in the old Pennsylvanian state, but also in Ohio, Indiana, Michigan and Wisconsin. Besides New-York and Philadelphia, Baltimore was also a maritime city at that time, where many German immigrants landed. In the same year 1838, in which half a year
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later the Saxons landed in New Orleans, a man in Baltimore entered the soil of America, driven by the love of Christ, not seeking rest and gain, not honor nor recognition, but, as he later confessed to a friend, only the one thing he had made it his life's mission, to consume himself in the service of the Savior for the benefit of the brothers. His mission was primarily to gather again the scattered children of the Lutheran Church.
Friedrich Conrad Dietrich Wyneken was born on 13 May 1810 in Verden, in the Kingdom of Hanover, where he spent his youth until he left university. He studied theology in Göttingen and Halle, but absorbed very little of the true teachings of God. Already in Halle he had been instructed in Jesus by Professor Tholuck; but when, after completing his university studies, he became the tutor of a civil servant, he was so little furthered in the right knowledge of salvation that, when he taught the boys entrusted to him in the biblical story, he began with the books of Maccabees. Only in the house of the pastor and consistory councillor von Hanfstengel, in which he also entered a little later as a tutor, did he get to know Jesus and the way of salvation more completely. With his own determination, he now turned away from the world completely and tried with all seriousness to follow his Saviour on the narrow way. As tutor, as educator of a noble boy with whom he travelled through part of France and Italy, and as temporary headmaster of the Latin school in Bremervörde, he had many opportunities to grow in the knowledge of Jesus Christ and to confess his faith. It was the Bible from which he now learned true theology, through which the Holy Spirit made him a true theologian or God’s man.
When Wyneken read much of the church plight of German Lutherans in the United States of North America in mission papers at home, the great misery of these
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people went to his heart, and the intimate love for his Saviour soon drove him to leave his old mother, brothers and sisters, comfortable lives and bright prospects to serve the church-deserted German Lutherans in love in a far off land.
When he landed in Baltimore in 1838, accompanied by the candidate C. W. Wolf, Wyneken was completely unknown there. He now wandered the streets looking for Lutheran churches. At first he got into the middle of an Otterbein Methodist [Philip William Otterbein] meeting, which he soon left again. A German whom he met and whom he addresses referred him to Pastor Johann Haesbert, who had founded the Second Evangelical Lutheran St. Paul’s congregation a few years earlier.
Arriving at Haesbert’s house, Wyneken and Wolf explained that they were missionaries and had set out to visit German Lutherans in the West and gather them into churches.
Haesbert looked at them with suspicion, for even then there were many spiritual vagabonds who, pretending to want to help the people, were only looking for money and a life of ease.
Soon, however, Wyneken's open, friendly manner appealed to Haesbert; he took a liking to the strangers and let them remain with him. The next Sunday Wolf preached in St. Paul's Church. The following week Haesbert fell ill and asked Wyneken to stay with him until he had recovered. But the recovery was delayed. Haesbert had to leave the city and move to the country to find the necessary rest. Wyneken took care of the church for about six weeks and visited the sick pastor diligently. Both got to know each other more and more and become friends, loving each other deeply in brotherly love.
When Haesbert was able to administer his office himself again, he was reluctant to let his new friend go. But Wyneken wanted to, and had to leave if he was to start his missionary labors before the rough autumn weather came. Then Haesbert said to him: "You should not travel to the West on your own.
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I am writing to the Mission Committee of the Synod of Pennsylvania to send you out as their missionary." This he did, and soon Wyneken was assigned to move to Indiana, to seek out the scattered German "Protestants", preach to them, and, if possible, gather them in churches.
But before we accompany him on his missionary journeys, it is only fair to ask” How could the Lutheran Wyneken serve the church in Baltimore, which was in fact a “Union” church composed of Lutherans and Reformed?
At that time he was not made aware of the communion practice that was usual there. As long as Haesbert was ill, the sacrament was not administered. So Wyneken saw nothing that could have hurt his Lutheran conscience and that would have shown him the true ecclesiastical [kirchlichen; Kramer: denominational] status of the congregation. Nor was his mind at that time so seriously directed towards pure doctrine and doctrinal unity; therefore it could easily happen that it escaped his notice during his intercourse with Haesbert where and to what extent the latter was not completely Lutheran.
But Wyneken was already an honest and sincere man at that time. He knew no pretence and was heartily hostile to all lies. Integrity was a dominant trait of this missionary. But his speech, thinking and acting was sanctified by the love of Christ. Free and cheerful, but loving, he consorted with everyone.
In September 1838 Wyneken began his missionary journey. He was able to use the railway and the canal as far as Pittsburgh. He bought a horse in Zelienople [Pennsylvania], “and trotted merrily and cheerfully through the wooded country."
In Ohio he felt compelled to stay for some time, as several German settlements had not had a sermon there for years. The people were so pleased to receive the Word of Life again that Wyneken could not thank the Lord enough for his love to “bring such hungry hearts to Him right at the beginning of his ministry.”
After the orders he was given, he went to Decatur, in Adams Co., Ind. From here he wanted
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to visit resident Germans. In the forest he meets an American whom he asks about Germans, and he tells him what he wants from them, what he came to the country for, etc. The American says, "If you are a righteous pastor, go into that house, there is a very sick man inside. If howerver you are like most people who come from Germany, then go over there to the rich wagon driver!"
"I would rather go to the sick man first," Wyneken replied, and went into the house of the sick man named Loeffler. The man was very ill, his wife told him that the sick man could no longer hear or see. Wyneken sat down with him, spoke several words of comfort into his ear and then prayed out loud for him.
Later, the recovered Loeffler confessed that he had understood every word and had been comforted abundantly. So Wyneken appeared as a missionary!
In Loeffler's house, Wyneken asked about other German settlers. They referred him to the “old Buuck” as one who was very fond of churches and pastors. Wyneken set off.
About fifteen miles from the town, he met a little girl in the woods. He stops and says: “Little girl, can you by any chance tell me where Father Buuck lives?” — The child, who had at first looked somewhat suspiciously at the strange man, suddenly radiated with sheer joy, and answered: “O yes; for that is my father.” The child now led the stranger to their house, and father Buuck heartily welcomed the man who wanted to bring the Word of God not only to him personally but also to all his neighbors far and wide.
Wyneken never forgot the friendly reception he received at Buucks. This was his home from now on, as often as he came out after “dear Adams County”.
At that time there already existed a small so-called Lutheran congregation. The same was also the case in Fort Wayne, which was only a small city at that time. Both congregations
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had previously been served by Pastor Huber, a Pennsylvanian-German, who had died not long before Wyneken's arrival, on May 23, 1838. The latter therefore immediately went to Fort Wayne, visited the members of the church there and was immediately requested to stay with them.
However, he referred them to the Mission Society and promised them to return in four weeks to hear what the Mission Society had decided.
On October 2 Wyneken began his first major missionary journey. From Fort Wayne, he first went "to the western part of the State of Ohio"; from there, he went “northwest to Michigan City”; then he returned “back to the South Bend area (to St. Joseph's City and Elkhart) Indiana”; from there he made “a detour to Michigan, from Mottville to Niles”; now he turned south and came “to Crawfordsville, Montgomery Co, Indiana”; from there, he took the road "through Clinton Co.", and moved “up the Wabash to Fort Wayne,” where he re-entered on November 16. He had met many abandoned Germans, had encouraged the planting of churches in several places, and had promised to help others if it pleased God. Three weeks before Christmas (1838), the missionary, burning with love, was about to embark on his second mission trip, except that his horse, and Mr. Rudisil's horse was lame, so it could not happen. On January 2, 1839, however, he left to visit the churches near South Bend and Elkhart.
The reader may also consult the synod calendar for German Lutherans of 1877. This calendar contains the biography of the sainted Wyneken from the pen of his friend J. C. W. Lindemann, who soon after the writing of this biography was also called up to the triumphant church. *) The ecclesiastical conditions of the immigrated Germans were so sad that Wyneken soon afterwards often declared in
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* Also included in Part 4 of Memorial of Faithful Witnesses to Christ.
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Germany that some fall back into paganism, others become the prey of the enthusiasts, especially the Methodists. But Wyneken did not preach in vain. He became a saving messenger of God to many, and still today hundreds of fathers and mothers in Indiana, where he usually traveled through six counties, remember the intrepid, loving man who did not shy away from bad weather or bad roads to preach the joyful message of Christ to them; who himself became poorer and poorer to make them rich; who endured the greatest adversity to bring them to peace with God. After being called to be their pastor by the churches in and around Fort Wayne, Indiana, this city and its surroundings became his main area of activity. However, in those days everything was very poorly arranged, Wyneken's small chamber was much too small for him to settle down there with the confirmands. After some time he was given a house, which was the first Lutheran parsonage in that area, namely a small log house, 16' by 8'. The cracks between the blocks were stuffed with moss, with a rough floor and no windows. If the pastor wanted to study, read or write, the door had to remain open. In this house, Lindemann testified, Wyneken often spent quite happy hours. As he often said later on, when he later found everything so different in that area (which now often had not only comfort but also luxury), this grieved him in memory of the old times, because they were the best of his life. As great as his sphere of activity took in great dimensions, especially from the time when his fiery eloquence moved many hearts and hands in Germany to give the German fellow Christians in America the bread of life, so faithfully and in detail he was again a pastor. He could urge the stranger and the wrongdoer to leave the path of sin and throw themselves into the arms of Jesus Christ. He used to take the hand of the one to whom he spoke;
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or he grabbed him by the coat, or vest button, or stuck his finger in a buttonhole, holding on to the person he was talking to. In doing so, he spoke in secret, insistently, and pressed for a quick decision. Among the many examples of how quickly he was able to shake even unbelievers by his testimony, only one from that Calendar of 1877 is mentioned. When he had once been in Meyer's pharmacy in Fort Wayne and was about to leave, a man came up to Wyneken and asked with a self-important air: “Tell me, Pastor, do you really believe what you preach? I don't believe it.” Wyneken replied immediately, “And when the devil has you by the throat and is pulling you into hell, you just scream away and scream away, ‘I don't believe it, I don't believe it, I don't believe it’.” With that, Wyneken got on his horse and rode away. The wise man also left; but after a few days he returned to the pharmacy, asked for Wyneken, and said, “The man has made me uneasy; I must speak to him.” This came about, and he became a believer.
An inexperienced person might think that such a man, through whose ministry so many hearts have been converted, was probably on good terms with the Methodists. Wyneken was, however, the first to stop this sect not only in America, but also in Germany, where he opened the eyes of many about this soul-destroying enthusiasm. Up to that time, Christian circles in Germany had been accustomed to seeing Methodism as the dominant form of American Christianity, which, although it had its own peculiarities, was nevertheless aimed at true repentance and conversion. Many pastors in the German regional churches also used to relegate the emigrants, who took leave of them, to the Methodists. Even the determined Pastor Mallet in Bremen (who was Reformed) resented Pastor Wyneken when he confronted the Methodists. It was characteristic of Wyneken's future testimony that he would, without knowing it, fall among the Otterbein people in Baltimore, and was asked by them: "Well, Brother Wyneken, how
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has it pleased thee?," made the following judgement of their doings: "I do not know whether it is from God or the devil! Already in his letters Wyneken tried to win several more workers for his master's vineyard. Finally, after he had obtained a temporary administrator for Fort Wayne, he succeeded in October 1841 in embarking for Germany, where he sought to win over men who would be willing to relieve the Church's distress in America through faithful missionary service. This was the aim of his verbal lectures and petitions, which he addressed not only to his close fellow countrymen in Hanover, but also to Dresden, where a missionary association for North America was formed, and finally to Bavaria, where he succeeded in winning over the pastor Loehe zu Neudettelsau completely for the German-American mission. During this journey, Wyneken let out a scripture whose words are filled with such a warm love for his abandoned fellow believers that many hearts in Germany were awakened to pray and work for America. Moreover, Wyneken warned his Germans in particular about the Methodists, and described their activities so vividly that from that time on false prophets were recognized in Lutheran circles in these enthusiasts, who desired nothing more eagerly than they did in Germany, which they regarded as their disgrace, to hold their camp meetings, and to erect the fear bench under the appearance of religion in place of a worthy celebration of Holy Communion. Wyneken told the German Lutherans that as punishment for your unkindness and lukewarmness you will be given to these Methodists who look over the water much more greedily for you than you would look for your fellow believers in America. Wyneken described the activities of the Methodists in Germany as follows:
People gather in masses in the open field. Thousands are gathered. Some kind of wagon barricade is whipped up. Booths are set up. The aim is to stay together for 8-14 days. Food is provided. Also
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spiritual bread is provided, because there are several preachers to take turns and follow each other until the revival is accomplished. One of the weaker preachers starts, the stronger ones follow. In between they pray and sing. The prayers, the sermons, become longer and louder — the longing for the revival of souls, causing them to scream from deep within the chest. The songs are sung according to worldly, ravishing melodies (e.g. "Rejoice in life" etc.). The excitement increases. Now comes the night, which favors all excitement and enthusiasm. The latter now rises to its peak. There is a call for the conversion of all sinners. Under the singing of furious melodies and the shrieking of the praying people, the treasure which these people should carry with a coats of arms and seals, the mourners' bench, the bench of grace, is brought to the pulpit. The call to conversion is renewed by a preacher. Other preachers rush among the crowd of listeners and testify that it is a false shame that keeps them away, they want to let themselves go and come and escape the wrath. The night, the celebration, the singing, the prayer, — everything works together. The shame is overcome. The bench is filled with kneeling, sobbing, moaning, screaming sinners. Some preachers speak to them, others still walk among the others shouting invitations. Songs, prayers, moans, exclamations, clapping hands constantly increase the tension of the nerves and the stimulation of the senses. Now the “Spirit”, as they say, completes his work. The repentant ones fall down as dead, wake up again, jump out of their minds and rejoice in the air, raptures, visions occur — sadness and joy change suddenly and violently. So it goes on for 8 days, 14 days, that is how you save souls! These raving crowds are then the holy church! No more brandy and sin of the flesh, no more Sunday pleasures: the flesh celebrates its triumphs in the revivals, it has found substitutes for everything in participation in the new measures. There is no longer any need for prayer books, sermon books, devotional aids: one
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learn to pray in tongues and to rise from the earth in rapt devotion and heartfelt prayer. The whole life becomes a hunt for spiritual pleasures and joy, just as in our country the whole life is a hunt for physical pleasure.
Think of the man Luther among these swarming spirits, who swarm worse than Münzer, and the Anabaptists, worse precisely because this feeling is often connected with a self-deception of Pharisaic self-righteousness! Think of Jesus among these raving spirits, among these frenzied people who also rave in their churches, just as in our country one may only rave on dance floors and in taverns! Think of St. Paul among these mobs, of St. Peter among these apes of Pentecostal enthusiasm!
Pastor W. Loehe writes from that time: “On May 15, 1843, Pastor Wyneken left to return to the hard day's work of an American preacher. It is he, above all, whose personal addresses, his faithful, fiery word in letters and appeals awakened the sleeping love for the North American abandoned. He, this sincere, honest disciple of the Lord, has become dear to us. There are a number of passages from one of his letters that may please our readers”"
“I ask you and the rest of the brethren to take me and my wife and child into your intercession, that the Lord may make our departure easier, and guide us well and soundly with His almighty right hand across the sea and into the West, as well as further strengthen and empower me for the blessed proclamation among the forsaken brethren. It is a difficult walk, I cannot deny it, not only in outward appearance, but also with regard to the spiritual life and activity and its struggles, which often make me shudder when I think of going back in. My hope is in the Lord, who has been my strength and power up to now, and I have been kept upright in my poor soul." Since Pastor Wyneken, especially in his North German homeland, during this journey
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had often come into conflict with the Reformed, who in their own way also fought the rationalism customary in the country, he writes the following with reference to them: “Difficult, O how difficult is the struggle with souls whom one loves so dearly, with whom one feels oneself entangled and intertwined in so many ways on the one foundation of life. Certainly, here it is necessary to refrain from everything, everything apparently so glorious, and to take only the Word of God to hand and heart, and to practice obedience and love. May God, the Triune God, help us to do this! May He help us in the right obedience to Him, in the total denial of everything our own, in the obedience to the Word, in the love for the dear, even if erring, to hold fast, by His grace (for that alone can do) to trample all carnal bitterness under our feet, so that the Spirit of God may fight through us alone for the Word and Sacrament, and we may win them by firm witness, but in love. Now we must fight with those with whom we felt almost as one. Oh, these have been bitter hours! And yet, I hope, not without blessing. At least they can serve to make the misery in this world, even among those whom He has sanctified, humble us and awaken a longing for the place where there will be no more need, no more pain, no more crying. Well, the Lord Jesus will not leave His own, but will redeem them from all evil and help them out to His heavenly kingdom.” Two years later, Wyneken is back in full activity in Fort Wayne and the surrounding area, writing again to a friend in northern Germany, asking about why they are not doing more for the German-American mission, while the Methodists and Roman Catholics are doing everything possible for their cause! He requests that the Evangelical Lutheran Pastoral Conference in Leipzig address the Lutheran synods, and exclaims: "I am convinced that such a greeting from Germany would have penetrated us here like an electric shock. (A letter was also written in Leipzig at that time, as Wyneken wished). “I beg you," Wyneken continues, "call your
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churches into the square; consider how Luther wrote to the nobility of the German nation and what effect this had. I well know that Christianity must come out from within, but I also know that the Word must first enter from without. We are not bold enough in Germany, and you will not become wiser than you are until the Methodists show you, then it will be too late. — [William] Nast, editor of a German Methodist journal, has gone to Germany to make connections. Keep an eye on him, he will be heard, and if he prints anything against my pamphlet (The Plight of the German Lutherans in North America) [English translation], send it to me as soon as possible so I can present him as a liar and warn people about him. What I have said, I can answer for as truth on the Last Day. I have had to endure many things. 1) My wife and child are constantly ill. 2) During the time that I have been back here, at least 12-15 Protestants have converted to the Papacy (Germans here in Fort Wayne, they were not in my congregation, but they were in the church, I'm afraid there are two more from my congregation, all by marriage, men and women). Some of them are so dull, even from our congregation, that they are indifferent to it. God in heaven have mercy on us! This is a terrible misery and eats at our hearts. 3) A part has left our congregation and has formed a congregation of Reformed denomination. And this is the most horrible experience that Christianity is so superficial even among believers. It doesn't want to get serious about change, but why do I want to complain about my church members, since I myself am such a miserable subject. 4) The Methodists attack me personally, and now it's back to the New Measure people [Charles Finney]. One stands too alone, has too much to carry, and has too little encouragement, Lord have mercy on me!
Saturday night.
My dear friend, tomorrow's Gospel (about
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the deaf and dumb person) has healed me from my gloom, leaving a wholesome shame in my heart. Why did the Lord sigh? He bore our sins, our diseases, what a terrible burden! He carried them, He felt them, His heart broke under the burden of this feeling, because all the misery of the sinful world was His own. And how did He go on under it? So calmly, so patiently, so kindly, mildly and lovingly, He sighed to His Father, continued to work under the load until His Father called Him away, without grumbling and becoming impatient. What love! what patience of love, what calm perseverance, and I, wretched man, want to become tired, timid and mopey! And doesn't it say: He has done all things well? Is not this praise of what happened a promise of the future? Is it not certain that in the end we shall all cry out: He has done well! O my friend! how wretched are we, what miserable creatures! Lord have mercy on us! O that I had a heart that was still and at rest in God! When will there be a firm foundation in Christ! Pray for me! Why did we not pray together more often when we were together? How shamefully did we deal with God's promises? How sluggish to grasp, since He offers us everything!
It is now Friday afternoon and I could not come to the continuation of this letter earlier. Saturday night I had to stop, my eyes don't let me write with light anymore. On Sunday I arrived here so late in the evening from preaching, teaching children, house baptism, visiting the sick that I had to go straight to bed. On Monday morning I had to ride to a county where I had never been before, which is full of Germans and where the Methodists find a very open field. I had 36 miles to ride on a trail that you can only imagine from your early childhood in our heaths, and then you have to think of trees cut down, washed-out bridges, deep swamps, and tree roots everywhere, to give you at least a shadow of the truth. After twelve hours
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in the saddle except for an hour and a quarter, during which I fed my horse without interruption, I finally arrived happily late at night at a Hanoverian countryman's house with my arms and legs bruised. He gave me a sad account of how people everywhere fell to the Methodists and were suddenly inspired by them against our church. (Confirmation etc. is slandered in the most shameful way.) At 10 o'clock the next morning I preached unfortunately only in one meeting because I had a wedding the following day in Fort Wayne. I had to leave six or seven visits unattended, then I put some bread, cheese and coffee in my stomach, set off at 1:30 PM, got soaked through and through, lost my way in the saddest way, had to stop 22 miles from Fort Wayne to dry and rest, left matter-of-factly the next morning, and came home happy after a 5 hour (23 mile) ride, had to change, shave,etc.., performed a marriage, visited sick people, came home that evening. Yesterday I had to go on horseback again for baptisms and visits to the sick, had to ride 18-20 miles, came back completely exhausted, could only saw some wood for kitchen use, ate and slept, but had a prayer hour in the evening, and this completely exhausted me, so that I fell asleep on the chair with the pipe in my mouth. This morning I had to give myself a rest, because I felt that I was not able to do anything more. But I had two urgent letters to write, now I am on your letter, then I must visit sick people in the city again. The worst thing is that I feel I can no longer physically go through what I could before. Just think of my mood; my time is sufficiently occupied for my strength and yet people are calling out. Should I let that county become a prey of the Methodists, can I watch and protect my health? And there are hundreds of places like this in the West. The sects are recruited from those who come from Germany, both preachers and laymen. Soon we will no longer be able
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to send preachers to any area where the Methodists have not preceded us and the needy have alienated us. And what should we say to the members when they respond to our friendly reproaches: “The Church has left us in our need, these have come. If you have such a good thing, why are you so lazy, and not so eager as those whom you call sects?” And what a storm will break out against the Church, since they are taking over so ragingly fast. O that some of you were here only a year, you would not be so terribly lazy! What has happened in the past years? It may look like much to you. We lack courage in the German church because of the sloth and lack of seriousness. Nor will the newly awakened life of churchly aspiration last, for it testifies in its lack of active participation and real compassion capable of sacrifice that it is not rooted in the depths of a thoroughly converted heart made capable of sacrifice by quite deep repentance. With God there is no respect for the person, and He can and will let Germany and the Lutheran Church pass under the curse as well as the apple of his eye, the Jewish people, and the other once so richly blessed, now devastated, witnesses of His vengeful seriousness; He will well know how to prepare for Himself another refuge on Earth. I think the mistake is that you would like action to be taken, but the ordinary course of life and comfort must not be interrupted. And I believe that at a time like now, when everything is in ruins and the enemy is penetrating the walls from all sides, you must be able to get over it if the morning pipe does not make the room cosy in the usual way, and even the afternoon coffee is omitted. What must the candidates be for miserable subjects, who have heard of this distress and who do not yet have a permanent position in Germany, who are not prevented from doing so even by sickness, that they do not come out? It is incomprehensible to me how they can still be seen in a decent society
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and not a constant blush of shame betrays their guilty conscience. They should indeed come by dozens and the rich should gather together to support them, yes, in such need such a call should be made publicly to the rich that they should fear that every tidbit in their expensive societies would get stuck in their gullet and they would be suffocated by a righteous judgment of God that they would waste such things while thousands would languish spiritually. [Wyneken pushes guilt instead of love for Savior as motive.]
It might seem that Pastor F. Wyneken had a harsh word with the German Lutherans, especially the candidates, when reading the above letters he sent to those from Fort Wayne; but no one was more severe on himself than Wyneken. He wished for the voice of a trumpet to speak, and lamented that he could not have better advised his friends on the vital cause of the German-American mission! That is why he was allowed to speak so earnestly and ask in his address: “Is it so cold in Germany that the love that is planted in every breast, the love of blood relatives, no longer flourishes? Have the people forgotten the German way? Have they transformed the fatherland of family love?” And Germany has not failed to provide an answer. First of all, money contributions from Pastor Wucherer, Dr. Brandt and Pastor Loehe in Neudettelsau flow together for the best of this mission. Finally, around Pentecost 1841, the first man willing to lay down his soul for the mission among the emigrated Germans came to Pastor Loehe. The same was not a candidate, because he had learned a trade, but he also loved his Saviour early on and had already come to the Herrenhut congregation of Ebersdorf, because he hoped for greater benefit for his Christian life there than within the state church. However, he recognized the advantage of the Lutheran Church by comparing it with the doctrine and conditions of the Herrnhut people, and when he saw Wyneken's call in Asch, in Bohemia, it went straight to his heart and his decision was clear. This man is the now greying pastor Adam
Ernst, [Find-A-Grave] the founder of the Lutheran "Volksblatt" published in Canada and the first president of the Canadian District of the Missouri Synod, which was formed three years ago. He was born in Dettingen, where his pastor gave him the testimony that he had always been a diligent pupil in the teaching of children (Christian teaching). His friends rejoiced that he was willing to help the abandoned brethren in America and finally sent him to Windsbach, and from there to PastorLoehe, the warm friend and benefactor of the American emigrants. There, in Neudettelsau, he began to study hard in July 1841, although he declared that he was quite content to serve as a schoolteacher in America. A. Ernst was soon joined by G. Burger, who took part in the lessons on Pastor Wucherer's recommendation. They read and studied many church-historical writings, studied doctrine and other things with zeal, and finally they were sent out together, after a farewell party was organized on July 11, 1842 in the presence of participating members of the congregation. Already in Neuendettelsau they had been a blessing to many. Pastor Loehe gave them the testimony that they had directed the message of peace to many a sick and dying bed, and that they had also been a true blessing for their families. The time of the first love for the American mission had dawned over in Neuendettelsau, and Pastor Loehe was happy that the spiritual priesthood began to flourish so strongly in and through these missionary pupils, whose number was increasing. The surroundings of Pastor Loehe, who later on was reluctant to see the spiritual independence of the American Lutherans, did not yet form an appropriate space for his social standing, and the reports in the church papers prefer to dwell on the letters that Adam Ernst sent to Pastor Loehe and Wucherer from Columbus and from the congregation of Neudettelsau in the state of Ohio, which he had organized. On September 26 Ernst and Burger arrived in New York, where Pastor Stohlmann advised them to go to Columbus, Ohio, so that they would be trained as pastors in the theological seminary there,
preachers, for as mere school teachers they would find little entrance with the Germans. When he arrived in Columbus, Burger was admitted as a student to the theological seminary, but Ernst stuck to his decision to stay in school, and lo and behold, in a few days he managed to collect a school of ninety children, and the Columbus professors wrote to Germany that more such people should be sent to them. The school, which Ernst had started, was later continued by Baumgart, who was born of Jewish parents, came to the knowledge of the truth through God's gracious footsteps and was also sent out by Pastors Loehe and Wucherer. A. Ernst, however, was to become a pastor according to God's will, yes, he was already a pastor before he dared to ordain himself. At the beginning of June 1843 he wrote: "I have something in my eye. Through a man who had a boy in my school, I learned that thirty English miles from here was a settlement of Germans, almost all of whom were from the same area where I myself came from. They are middle-class Germans who have not yet forgotten the German custom, along with a few Hesse-Darmstadters and Würtembergers, the whole number being forty families. A large number of young people are flourishing among them. These people wish with all their hearts to have a service among themselves. For this I have a fact to state; because a farmer comes and reads a sermon every Sunday, as often as the weather permits. They have rejected the offers of the sects, which are already seeking entrance. Why do they not yet have a pastor? Because they are too weak to entertain one. It is rare to find money among them, but food is abundant. Should we let these people sit and wait?" So A. Ernst asks and further reports how he visited these people and told them why he had come to this country and why he had just come to them. The main objection, that they were too poor to be able to keep him, he brushed aside by promising to serve them in church and school for a whole year free of charge from the day he arrived. Only that he had something
to eat, he would give it to them. Then they got their desire and courage and all were happy. Finally, Ernst said that the Synod, from which he had to take his exams, could still cause him an obstacle. Professors Winker and Schaefer had encouraged him. Strangely enough, the Synod demanded that a candidate must first obtain two different licenses from the Synod before he could administer the sacraments. Ernst was to obtain the so-called catechist license first. Although the Ohio Synod, by virtue of such circumlocution, brought him little encouragement (it was believed that by such measures the vagabonds could be kept away), Ernst nevertheless worked in that congregation near Marysville, Ohio, in great blessing. This American Neuendettelsau, said Loehe, offered a refuge for the emigrants who loved the Word of God. He also published a report of a church dedication held at Neuendettelsau. The pastor finally succeeded in obtaining ordination, and his house became the starting point for the following missionary trainees [Sendboten], who under Pastor Ernst's guidance could now orient themselves more quickly. One of the first to travel from him was Dr. W. Sihler [pic]. Whoever wants to get to know this man's resumé, may only refer to and read the book Lebenslauf von W. Sihler [Google Books, HathiTrust] (Curriculum vitae of W. Sihler), published in St. Louis and New York in two volumes. Although he was not a student of geology in Germany, but was partly in military school, partly engaged in philosophical and philological studies, and was already a teacher at a grammar school in Dresden, from the time of his conversion he took the study of the Word of God very seriously, and made such an impression on Pastor Loehe, whom he visited shortly before his departure for America, that Loehe hoped that Dr. Sihler would be used as a professor at the seminary in Columbus, as the Church Notices [Kirchliche Mitteilungen, Google Books] report. However, it should come differently. In Columbus, Ohio, there was never to be a permanent place for truly German theologians, which
Professor Winkler had also to learn about this. Sihler, however, brought so much salt and sober openness with him on every step he took in America that the people who did not let themselves be punished and awakened were glad when they were no longer disturbed in their mechanical sloppiness by the presence of this man. After Dr. Sihler had visited the pastors Wagenhals, Spielmann and Lehmann from Columbus, and through the latter had been made aware of a preacherless settlement in Pomeroy, he left for Pomeroy at the end of December 1843, and came under a settlement of Rhenish-Bavarians who worked in the coal mines there. Sihler preached both in the town and in the country, and after he had preached, he did not conceal from the people who were unified by birth that he would only preach the Lutheran doctrine if called by them. Despite this declaration, he was called with one accord in both places and on January 1, 1844 he delivered his inaugural sermon on John 3:16: “"For God so loved the world,” etc. Sihler reports about his ministry there, how he was at first glad that he was only allowed to preach the Word of God into this mass, how he gradually urged them to be disciplined, and finally also, before he distributed Holy Communion, gave thorough instruction about it. Although a part of them held on to the Reformed error and therefore left the congregation, most of them also gave God the glory in this teaching and from now on confessed themselves as members of the Lutheran Church. It was precisely from this time on that the congregation gained more support and shape, and Sihler rejected many a call in town and country, which he received at that time as a result of his written essays that appeared in the Lutheran Church Newspaper of Pittsburgh [“Lutherischen Kirchenzeitung” - ? unknown]. At that time also his "Conversations of two Lutherans about Methodism" were written, because he got to know these fluttering and swarming spirits many times personally, and took insight from their meetings. Sihler did not want to stand alone; since Pastor Ernst and some like-minded people were already members of the Ohio Synod, he attended the meeting of the Ohio Synod in Germantown. The pastor at that time was Andreas
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Henkel, a Freemason who, as late as 1854, boasted that he had passed through all the stages of this secret society. In its constitution, however, this synod acknowledged all the symbolic books of the Lutheran Church, which is why Sihler now sought ordination and agreed to take an exam. The examination was waived after he presented a Latin testimony that Dr. Rudelbach had written to him; but when he was questioned about the license that was to precede ordination, he made the Synod's correct position clear, namely that it had no right to refuse ordination to someone whom it (the Synod) itself considered to be orthodox, doctrinaire, and impeccable, and who had already received a proper call from a congregation. Sihler was well aware that the right of call was inherent in the congregation concerned, but that the act of ordination was a good, human order and public confirmation of the call. For these and other reasons, he declared that he would not accept a license, whatever explanation was received, and he was immediately ordained and duly included into the Ohio Synod. Sihler and Ernst were now in cordial harmony within the Ohio Synod. Meanwhile, several emissaries soon arrived who came into contact with another synod, namely the Synod of Michigan. Finally also a theological candidate for the missionary service in America, namely the today's professor August Craemer, came forward. He had already spent several years in England and is described as a man who has proven himself through study and fierce battles, and who is in every respect suited to establish a branch in Michigan at the head of a Lutheran emigration society. Even before the dispatch of this colony, Pastor Loehe had already contacted Pastor Schmid in Ann Arbor, the President of the Michigan Synod, and received from him the assurance that all the members of the Synod would be firmly pledged to all the symbols of our Church, and that their missionaries would be committed to it. To this end, Pastor
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Loehe wanted to begin a heathen mission together with Pastor Schmidt on the Indian reservations of Michigan. Since one had often feared the accusation that the heathen mission would suffer because of the German-American inner mission, the Church Notices [Kirchliche Mitteilungen, Google Books] reported with joy that on April 20, 1845 a group of Franconian farmers had embarked in Bremerhaven with the intention of settling as a missionary colony among the Indians of Michigan. It was thought that the Chippeway Indians were already open to the Gospel and Frankenmuth was founded near them. Pastor A. Craemer landed with his people in New York on June 8, 1845, and they left for Michigan on the 12th of the same month. In Monroe they were joyfully welcomed by Loehe’s emissaries, Pastor Hattstedt and his congregation, and in Saginaw City by Missionary Auch, who became Pastor Craemer's helper in the Indian mission. In 1847 they were joined by Baierlein [PIC], a missionary sent by the Leipzig Missionary Committee. At the invitation of an Indian chief, a school building was built on the Pine River and the Bethany Station was founded. On July 4, 1848, 17 Franconian families, led by a faithful pastor, F. Sievers [pic], a native of Hanover, moved into what is now Frankenlust. In addition, Amelith, southwest of Frankenlust, was founded. Since these congregations placed themselves on the foundation of the Lutheran Confessions out of conviction, the blessing that is found in a free [of the State] church, where one follows the Word for the sake of the Word, and not just for the sake of external police coercion, was soon felt. Through this missionary activity the mouth of those who see in the Lutherans only dead orthodoxists who are incapable of any good work was also closed. With great love the Indian mission was taken on in Frankenmuth and Bethany, and the day on which several Indians and their children were baptized was always a feast day for the whole congregation. It was well recognized that in regard to the
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Inner missions and missions among the heathen the word applies: “One should do one thing and not leave the other!” And here the promise was fulfilled: “Whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance.” Matt. 13:12.
Since the life and work of the sainted Fr. Wyneken is closely linked to the history of the Missouri Synod, the following should be noted about his later activity.
After the above-mentioned [p. 93-94] Pastor Haesbert in Baltimore suddenly resigned his office in December 1844 and went to South America, the local congregation appointed Pastor Wyneken in his place. With a heavy heart the people of Fort Wayne agreed to release “their dear Wyneken” to Baltimore. Only the thought “our God wills it so” could comfort them. On March 9, 1845, Wyneken was publicly inducted into his office as Lutheran pastor by the old Dr. Daniel Kurtz. Although many hearts were trusting him, it soon became clear to Pastor Wyneken that he would have to fight many a battle in Baltimore. His congregation had until then been “united” in the practice of the Lord's Supper, in a way that Dr. Kurtz and others of the General Synod had spent on “American Lutheranism”. The following chapter will report on Pastor Wyneken's testimony to the General Synod, but he also had to make it clear to the congregation for the first time that Reformed and Lutherans could not possibly be members of the same congregation. There were many storms until those who wanted to remain Reformed finally left the congregation. Wyneken also found a particularly fierce opponent in the “United” Pastor Weyl in Baltimore. He spread the rumour that Wyneken was an "Old-Lutheran", a disguised Jesuit, who also intended to return his congregation to the Pope, as can be seen from the fact that he wore a pulpit gown and made the sign of the cross when he pronounced the benediction. In a similar way Weyl spoke in the "Shepherd's Voice" [“Hirtenstimme”] which he edited. However, he did not achieve his purpose, even though some were encouraged in their enmity against Wyneken. Wyneken's congregation came to appreciate
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him more and more, and even non-Lutherans declared that he had remained the victor in his struggle. Wyneken also had to fight against the "secret societies", since several members of his congregation belonged to these lodges. Wyneken showed the dangerous nature of these orders, and he was rewarded for his courageous and friendly approach to these battles. This was especially evident in the church meetings. All the attacks to which he was exposed there bounced off his calm and presence of mind. He did not retreat one step, and was never at a loss for a good answer. Yet he was full of compassion for those who recognized their sin. Nothing annoyed him more than unloving judgments about people who had sinned out of weakness, or about those who still lacked knowledge. He could then rebuke the "righteous" and rebuke those who were wise. — When Wyneken received a call from the Trinity Church in St. Louis in early 1850, he recognized after a careful examination of all the circumstances that it was God's will to go to St. Louis. On February 24, 1850 he delivered his farewell sermon on 1 Sam 7:12 and on the following Sunday, Jubilate, the inaugural sermon at the new place of his destiny. That same year, after only two years of formal entry into the Missouri Synod, he was elected Synod President at the Fourth Synodical Assembly. In accordance with this important office, he was not only required to preside at the synod assemblies and to carry out various activities from his home during the three years for which he was elected, but also during this time he had to visit all the parishes in the Synod, visit congregations, pastors and schools, "if possible preach a sermon in each congregation himself", and, in addition, "to appear in person as soon as possible" in order to remedy any discrepancies that had arisen, if it was desired in a congregation. To this end, according to his instructions, he should attend pastoral conferences and meetings of district synods, "give advice and answer" on request, etc. During
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a period of 14 years he presided at 6 general assemblies, attended 21 district synods, attended Norwegian and other conferences, visited and preached back and forth in the congregations, and was particularly good at showing the way forward with few, often blunt, but always emphatic words. People used to say that in relation to the doctrine for which Prof. Walther brought the right light, Wyneken's word was like thunder following lightning! ‘The Lord had also placed him,’ writes Prof. Walther in a short obituary, ‘as His instrument in these manifold councils to make the Gospel resound loud and clear,’ — for this he was a man of action who, after looking at things, was able to take vigorous action. That is why also his visits were often of great success! Just one anecdote from that time may find room here.
It was still at the beginning of his presidential term when Wyneken visited a congregation far to the west. The meeting lasted until midnight. The people talked very violently, it was almost tumultuous, and Wyneken tried in vain to settle the dispute. The meeting finally had to be adjourned as a fruitless one. While the pastor of the congregation, as the last one to leave, put out the lights in the church, President Wyneken stood in the dark vestibule. There he heard some of the most fierce opponents, mostly young people, arguing and talking about wanting to beat him up. Without further reflection, Wyneken suddenly steps in front of them and says: “I want to tell you something: I'm not afraid of the Devil, and you think that I should be afraid of you! You're all pathetic guys,” [“Jungens, ik will ju mal wat seggen: Ik fürchte mi vor den Düvel nich, un ji meent, dat ik mi vor ju fürchten scholl! Ji sin ja ganz erbärmliche Kerels”] and so on. The men looked at each other in bewilderment; they had gained respect for the Low German President and proved this in the next meeting by submitting to him calmly. So peace was finally established, and one of the disturbers of peace later became a upright member of that congregation. — The writer of these lines heard
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only once a sermon from Wyneken's mouth. But it has remained unforgettable to me how, during the Fort Wayne General Synod of 1869, Wyneken warned some 700 synodical delegates on the 15th Sunday after Trinity about the worries of this life, and in particular addressed the preachers that they should not immediately think of horse and buggy [or cars today] and of a beautiful parsonage! What is certain is that it was the care of the ministry, especially the care of his sermon, that caused him the most concern. He sat and wrote until 12 o'clock at night, and often tore up what he had written when he came out of the pulpit, so that his sermon again did not stick to the last, finished manuscript. He began somewhat uncertainly until a strong word had slipped his lips, for example "We're all up to our ears in miserliness" and now his speech gushed out like a river that runs over rocks and plains. Every muscle in his face, every movement of his hands, the glow of his eyes testified to the fact that he truly cared about the cause, the whole man preached! As Loeber writes, however, he not only painted the natural destruction of man completely unvarnished, he also described the great love of God in Christ, and brought it so close that many a person, after such a sermon, took courage to throw themselves with all their sins into God's arms of grace and to console themselves of the Lord Christ alone. —
Even now many preachers appreciate the advice they received from Wyneken in various official matters, such as, for example, some who thought that they must now enforce what they considered necessary. Wyneken wrote them in short words: "If the stone that lies before you is so heavy that you cannot lift it, just go very gently around it!” In the old congregations where he worked, people still talk about Wyneken's unselfishness and sacrifice, especially how he was concerned with giving and doing good; for example, that once he came riding in stockings to his retiring quarters in Fort Wayne, because he had given away his boots to a poor pedestrian with torn shoes. He once showed how quickly
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he was ready in such cases, when, at his request, a number of people took care of a dead person, who was to be buried. When the corpse was being prepared for the coffin, it was found that they had no shroud. Wyneken told people to wait a bit, entered a locked woodshed, and soon came out with a shirt. He himself had buttoned his coat all the way to the top.
The journey he made to Germany with Prof. Walther in 1851 will be reported in Chapter VIII of this paper. After Wyneken had often asked for dismissal from the Presidium when the general Synod assembled, he placed this office back into the hands of the Synod in 1864, whereupon Prof. Walther was again elected General President (1864-1878). Shortly before this, Wyneken had been elected as pastor by the Trinity Church in West Cleveland. There he took courage and worked in blessing, but it became apparent that his health was suffering noticeably. The congregation, which increased significantly with the arrival of many immigrants, appointed him an assistant preacher, the first being Heinr. Craemer, who, when he received another call, was followed by Wyneken's own son Heinrich Wyneken. The father could no longer be cured of the preaching-sickness, of this challenge, as he himself called it, and therefore asked the congregation, while he was getting weaker and weaker, to make his son the head pastor, but to only let himself be considered an assistant preacher. His chest suffering took over and he became so tired of life that he often said: "This is my only desire: Who will deliver me from the body of this death!" His daily sin was a particular burden to him. The doctors advised that before the winter of 1875 to 1876 came, Wyneken should choose a milder climate, so he went to California, where he had a dear son-in-law in San Francisco in Pastor J. Bühler. Wyneken's wife, Marie née Buuck, followed him in the middle of winter to take care of her husband.
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Meanwhile, there was no longer a cure in California for Wyneken's physical life; he convinced himself of this and wished to return to Cleveland. But the same day that was meant to be the day of his departure was to be the day of his death. He died without complaint on the morning of May 4, 1876, at the age of nearly 66. The news of his death passed through the United States in a flash and caused deep sorrow, especially within the Synod. According to the wishes of the Cleveland congregation, the body was brought to Cleveland for burial. After stopping first in St. Louis and then in Fort Wayne and organizing funeral services, the widowed wife arrived in Cleveland with her departed one on May 15th, where Pastor Th. Brohm gave another funeral sermon on Hebr. 13:7. The word still applies today: “Remember them which have the rule over you, who have spoken unto you the word of God!”
— In the next Part 9, we present Chapter 5.
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