Reflections of Trinity’s Past
“Our 138th Year” 1871 – 2009
This is the second article in a series of Trinity’s heritage as we continue with
the history of Jacob Albright and the founding of the Evangelical Association
which is known today as the Evangelical Congregational Denomination.
On Easter Day in 1808, Jacob Albright conducted a general meeting with his preachers at the home of John Brobst in Albany Township, Berks County, and these were his parting words….”In all that you do, or think of doing, let your object be to enhance God’s glory, and advance the work of His grace in your own hearts, as well as among your brethren and sisters; and be diligent co-workers in the way which God has pointed out to you, to which He will grant you his blessing.”
A week later, he traveled to Lingelstown, but due to his weakened condition and the advancement of his illness he was unable to preach; following the meeting he set out for home 50 miles away in Lancaster County. When he had covered about 30 miles of his journey home he felt he could no longer ride all the way so he directed his horse toward Kleinfeltersville and to the home of his dear friend, Samuel Becker. As he reached the Becker home, he asked “have you my bed ready, I have come to die.”
Christian friends gathered around his bed and prayed with him. Those who witnessed this were so touched they believed they were near the gates of Heaven. When he was asked how he felt, shortly before passing away, he replied: “Happy and Heavenly, soon I shall be in Heaven.” A smile came to his face as he passed this life.
Albright was buried in the Becker family cemetery on the edge of the village of Kleinfeltersville on May 20, 1808. Among his papers was found this statement which he had penned during his last days…. “and now, I thank God, the Most High, and Him be eternal praise, for His Grace which he has given unto me…..that He has kept me steadfast in the faith and pure in life, through trails, persecutions and sufferings which have befallen me in this life, permitting me to see that His grace was not bestowed upon me in vain. The seals of my ministry are the converted brethren and sisters whom I have begotten through the gospel and whom I am certain to meet again in Heaven, I trust firmly in God, that in me will be given the inheritance of the saints in light….and incorruptible crown.”
The enemies of this spiritual movement predicted a short life to the Conference following Albright’s death, but their predictions proved false. Under the sacred influence of this hour, ministry and laity alike were moved to dedicate themselves more completely to God and His work.
The first Book of Discipline was edited in 1809. The first German camp meeting in the United States was held in Union County, Pennsylvania in 1810. The first General Conference was held in 1816 in the Buffalo Valley, near Lewisburg, Pennsylvania. The Albright group adopted the name of “Die Evangelische Gemeinschaft,” or Evangelical Association. The Conference authorized a German hymn book and erected a publishing house at New Berlin, Pennsylvania. The first Church building was erected in 1817 in this small town west of Lewisburg.
Soon a territory opened for circuit riders in the area west of the Alleghenies and in 1826 a Western Conference was formed. With the migration of German speaking people the work of the Evangelical preaching was carried into successful missions in the mid west, Canada and the Pacific Northwest.
John Seybert, bachelor son of a Hession solider, born near Manheim, who was not afraid of the hostile people nor the perils of pioneer travel, opened up a new territory. He was later elected Bishop. The first Sunday school was established in Lebanon, Pennsylvania in 1832.
In 1843 the Church recognized English as a language for service and the Evangelical zeal appealed to English as well as German settlers. Rapid growth demanded that the Publishing House move to the growing city of Cleveland, Ohio were a complete line of periodicals and Church literature flowed out for the use of the Church.
The early Church did not believe in “preacher factories” but maintained that ministers should be called by God and that education should be received in the school of experience. This does not mean though that the early ministers were scholastically ignorant. The circuit riders had saddle bags to carry on their horses which contained the best books of the day. When they stopped by the roadside to rest, they would spend time in reading and meditation from the Bible, the Hymn Book, the Catechism and the Discipline.
However, formal education was demanded by the Church. In 1854 the first school was opened in the town of Berlin, Somerset County, Pennsylvania. The Schuylkill Seminary and Albright College in Myerstown, today known as our Evangelical Theological Seminary followed later. The first orphanage was established at Flat Rock, Ohio, in 1855. By 1887 the Evangelical Association consisted of 1,836 congregations in twenty conferences.
Ron Reedy, Church Historian
top