Prev TOC Next
[See page image]

Page 240

 

Schlatter THE NEW SCHAFF-HERZOG 240 Schleiermacher ministry; and in 1745 was vicar at Wigoldingen, Switzerland. In 1746 he was commissioned by the synods of Holland a missionary to the destitute Ger man churches of Pennsylvania, with special direc tions to visit. the scattered settlements, to organize pastoral charges, and, if possible, to form a coetus, or synod. Schlatter arrived in Philadelphia Sept. 6, 1746, and Was installed pastor of the united Re formed churches at Philadelphia and Germantown, Jan. 1, 1747, and proceeded to prosecute his special mission with great vigor. He traveled (1747-51) a distance of not less than 8,000 miles, throughout parts of Pennsylvania, Maryland, New Jersey, and New York, and preached 635 times. He estimated that there were at this time 30,000 German Re formed people in Pennsylvania, with fifty-three small churches, and four settled pastors. Schlatter formed the congregations into pastoral charges; and Sept. 29, 1747, the pastors and delegated elders met, at his instance, at Philadelphia, and organized the German Reformed coetus, or synod (see RE FORMED [GERMAN] CHURCH). In the mean time trouble arose in the church at Philadelphia; a fac tion opposed the discipline and close alliance with Holland and chose as pastor, in Schlatter's place, J. C. Steiner, a recent arrival from Switzerland. In 1751 Schlatter went to Europe at the instance of the synod, where he succeeded in reassuring the synods of Holland discouraged by reports of the strife, and in raising a fund of £12,000 for the des titute churches in America on the condition, how ever, that the coetus in America must be entirely subject to the Church in Holland. In 1752 he re turned to America, accompanied by six young min isters, and bringing 700 large Bibles for distribution to churches and families. While in Europe, he pub lished, in Dutch, a " Journal " (Amsterdam, 1751; Germ. transl., Frankfort, 1752) of his missionary labors, containing an earnest appeal in behalf of the Germans in America. A large sum of money, said to have been £20,000, was collected and placed in the hands of a Society for the Promotion of the Knowledge of God among the Germans. In 1755 Sehlatter was induced to resign his church in Phila delphia, and to become superintendent of the pro posed charity schools. The establishment of these English schools aroused strong opposition among the Germans, and his position became unpopular. Accordingly he resigned in 1757 and accepted a chaplaincy in the Royal American regiment. He accompanied the expedition to Louisburg and re mained with the army till 1759. He subsequently lived in retirement at Chestnut Hill, near Philadel phia. During the American Revolution he was an earnest patriot, and was for some time imprisoned for refusing to continue his position as chaplain in the British army. BIBLIOGRAPHY: H. Harbaugh, The Life of Rev. Michael Schlatter, Philadelphia, 1857; H. W. Smith, Life and Cor respondence of Rev. William Smith, D.D., vol. i., ib. 1879; J. H. Dubbs, Founding of the German Churches of Penn sylvania, ib. 1893; idem, in American Church History Series, viii. 278-289, New York, 1895; H. E. Jacobs, in the same, iv. 288-289, ib. 1893. SCHLECHT, shIgHt, JOSEF: German Roman Catholic; b. at Wending (37 m. n. of Augsburg),

Bavaria, Jan. 20, 1857. He was educated at the gymnasium of Eichstutt and the University of Munich; was curate at Eichstatt (1885-89); a member of the clerical staff of the Campo Santo, Rome, and director of the historical institute of the Gorresgesellschaft in the same city (1890-91); instructor in the Lyceum of Eichstatt (1892-93); associate professor at the Lyceum of Dillingen (1893-97); and since 1897 has been connected with the Lyceum of Freising, where he has been successively associate professor (1897-1902) and full professor (since 1902). Besides being associate editor of the second volume of Die katholische Kirche unserer Zeit and ihre Diener in Wort and Bild (Munich, 1900); Eichstdtts Kunst (1901); Kirclliches Handlexikon (1904 sqq.); and Kalender bayrischer and schwdbischer Kunst (Munich, 1906); he has written Poesie des Sozialismus (Wdrzburg, 1883); Zur Kunstgeschichte der Stadt Eichstatt (Eiehstatt, 1888); Eiehstatt im Schwedenkriege (1889); Die Pfalzgrafen Philipp and Heinrich als Bisch6fe von Freising (Freising, 1898); Doctrina duodecam Apostolorum (Freiburg, 1900); Die Apostellehre in der Liturgic der katholischen Kirche (1901); Bayerns Kirchenprovinzen (Munich, 1902); Das Leben Jesu (in collaboration with P. Schumacher; 1902); Andrea ZamometQ, i (Paderbom, 1903); and edited Kilian Leib's Briefwechsel and Diarien (Munster, 1909).

Life to 1796 (§ 1). First Berlin Period (§ 2). The Roden Q 3). The " :Monologues "; Stolpe Period (§ 4). At Halle; Call to Berlin (§ 5). Incidental Activities, 1811-32 (§ 6). Introduction to the Glaubensiehre (§ 7). Doctrine of God, the World, Sin, and Grace (§ 8). Christology (§ 9). Election, Pneumatology, Inspiration (§ 10). Schleiermacher's Philosophy and Psychology (§ 11). His Science of Ethics (§ 12). Criticism of the Ethics (§ 13). Schleiermacher's Last Years (§ 14). Character and Influence (§ 15).

Friedrich Daniel Ernst Schleiermacher, whose

name marks an epoch not only in Protestant theol

ogy, but also in the sciences of religion and ethics,

was born at Breslau Nov. 21, 1768, and died at

Berlin Feb. 12, 1834. His father was

1. Life to a Reformed army chaplain who had

1796. settled in Breslau, where his son was

educated until he was ten years old.

A fresh outbreak of hostilities then recalled his

father to the field, and the boy and his family re

moved to Pleas, where he studied, partly in school

and partly under his parents' direction; when his

father and mother came under strong Moravian in

fluence, young Friedrich was placed in a school at

Niesky. Here he found congeniality of piety, cul

ture, and friendship, and in his enthusiasm entered

the Moravian seminary at Barby in 1785 to prepare

for the ministry. But his rising spirit of criti

cism and independence received scant satisfaction,

and by Jan., 1787, he found himself unable to re

main longer in Barby. He accordingly withdrew