Jacob's Trouble - Introduction

There are glosses outside a text meant to accent meaning, but the many accents are separate from the fact. So with the subject here of Jacob's Trouble. The factual Jacob the Elder is not Jacob the Patriarch whose name was changed to Israel, father of the twelve tribes.  "It will be a time of trouble for Jacob but he will be saved out of it" (Jer 30.7). This could be applied to any Jacob in trouble whose first thought is how did I get into this, and, how do I get out. Let us call supplanting Jacob's trouble, from which he was not released until 21 years of servititude with Laban and wrestling the angel when he received the blessing and a new name. Virtue does not lie solely in the name however, for some  named Israel might as well have the name of Jacob. Old name. The new name is supposed a new heart.
 How did the original Jacob get into trouble? He moved to Egypt, but that was at the end. Actual use of the word trouble occurs here,
 "Simeon and Levi put them all to death by the sword and rescued their sister Dinah, and their brothers plundered the property, women, and children. Jacob condemned this act, saying "You have brought trouble on me by making me a stench to the Canaanites and Perizzites, the people living in this land."^[16] He later rebuked his two sons for their anger in his deathbed blessing (Genesis 49:5-7)."

If the passage in Jeremiah is suggested for them all, the plot thickens. Jacob's Trouble there has been made tribulation with a capital T, which can be looked at both ways, as trouble, but as deliverance from trouble. Jeremiah associates this with birth pains in a man, which got a capital T when those  leaps of rational divides associated the return from exile for Jacob and repossession of the land with similar metaphors in Matthew (24.6-8) and I Thesselonians (5.3). The metaphor of birth pangs associated with the phrase Jacob's Trouble begot the Tribulation one might say.

This does not justify saying that Jacob is a symbol of Jacob, Israel of Pennsylvania and that since Jacob's trouble started when the desire of all nations would come, Israel and Judah brought out of captivity and restored to the land given to their forefathers to possess suggests that the Pennsylvania Germans are going to repatriate themselves into their former beliefs, although were it so, those beliefs would be like Isaac digging again the wells of water of Abraham (Gen 26.18).

Jacob is Jacob, elder or younger, Israel or Dutchman. Do attributes of a person attach from the name? Names as at least memorials mean somewhat more.

Bits and Pieces

[It is obvious the Skippack Reformed Church was independent and formed on an independent not a hierarchical basis, which makes the letter of special significance. It gives this freedom to congregations and if it is a forgery of Jacob Reiff's, as they alleged then, then allow with the blame of the offender the praise of a philosopher, for it was a true statement of the time.]

[Speaking of those pastors of the first Reformed Church in Pennsylvania, Boehm and Weiss, Sachse observes that it is "a strange coincidence that both Boehm and Baumann came to Pennsylvania about the same time from Lambsheim, in the Palatinate" (The German Sectarians, I, 157). Five years separated them. Hinke has Baumann arriving in Philadelphia in 1718, Sachse in 1719, but Pendleton (176) cites land office records that show Baumann already residing in the Oley Valley in 1714. Since Baumann had left Lambsheim in 1714 and Boehm did not resign his position as schoolmaster in Worms until November 22, 1715 (Hinke, 15) their paths did not cross in Lambsheim and at least his one indignity can be spared Mr. Boehm.]

If it is wondered why the Newborn sect rejected the Bible and its teachings, the text recorded above by Spangenberg (6) should be noted, that is, I John 1.8: "if we say we have no sin we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us."

Golden Age

A golden age? Yes. It was here that so many of the the major themes of Penn's culture started. It is a golden age of its own kind however, not in the classical sense of peace and justice, although peace was a topic of major concern as was justice. A golden age is known by its being looked back upon, discerning then how things were simpler, less complicated, pristine. It had naivete too, belief in things later ages dismiss, so many of them. Roll it all up together and look back at it 100, 200, 300 years later and it is a golden age.

Jacob's Trouble

In eclogues shepherds fight for personal glory. Historians naturalize these into innocents and prodigies, auguries and eclipses. But the shepherd wars were not pastorals, they were about a world of freedom and human rights aggravated by a lack of comfort.

Jacob had even more trouble than Conrad. Contemporary accounts, both from himself and his adversaries, none more important than John Phillip Boehm, account his character. Later writers' justifications pile on, like Rev. Hinke, editor of Boehm's letters (1916), who clearly declares: "The evidence is somewhat contradictory, coming to us from Weiss, Reiff and Boehm. Selecting the statements of Boehm as giving us most likely the true version of what happened, we learn from him..." (Life and Letters, 42). Hinke was also author of the telling A History of the Goshenhoppen Reformed Charge (issued by the Pennsylvania German Society, 1920), heavily weighted toward Reformed Church interests. Add to these Harbaugh, Fathers of the Reformed Church, Good, History of the Reformed Church, Dubbs, History of the Reformed Church in Pennsylvania, Dotterer, and later Glatfelter, Pastors and People. Indeed in window dressing the History of the Goshenhoppen Reformed begins with Weiss, who arrived late in 1727 (September 14) not Boehm, and ministered at churches which he obviously did not found, but he is called the first official.

In the public relations event of the history of the German Reformed Weiss is not a straw man. But when John Frederick Hillegass landed with him in 1727 (I mean the "Rev. George Michael Weiss, the eminent Reformed pioneer clergyman" as he is known) all the previous relationships among the Reformed in greater Philadelphia were disestablished. In point of fact some ten congregations had been and were established by Boehm. Efforts to excuse Weiss, who was determined a combatant as Boehm, miss the point. Early Pennsylvania was a pastoral of battling shepherds out of Spenser's Colin Clout. The Reformed historians' solution to blame the sheep does not reconcile well with the first principals and the arrival of Weiss with Hillegass.

Dotterer says (Historical Notes Relating to the Pennsylvania Reformed Church, 146) they didn't know each other! "They were thrown together just as now strangers are thrown together on ships crossing the Atlantic." But "Weiss was actually the leader of the colony, at whose head he appeared in signing the declaration of allegiance on September 21, 1727" (Hinke, Proceedings and Addresses, A History of the Goshenhoppen Reformed Charge, 34). Michael and George Peter Hillegass already lived in Philadelphia, which is where the fun begins. Weiss immediately deposed Boehm: " I cannot conscientiously recognize Mr. Boehm as a Reformed teacher and preacher, until he submits to an examination and is ordained in Apostolic manner, which he will never be able to do" (36). It is a lot of bluster. Boehm's partisans came to a meeting demanded by Weiss and demanded his credentials, but the joke was that they were in Latin so he had to get German versions which did not come until April the next year (37), prolonging the back and forth between battling shepherds as to who was legitimate. By the time Boehm got himself formally ordained in November 1729, two years of acrimony had passed but more was to come.

For all this difficulty Weiss traveled much and ministered early in Oley among the Newborn, about whom he wrote the early tract Der IN DER AMERICAN SCHEN WILDNUSZ, (In the American Wilderness) (1729) and apparently a book about the Indians (Burnetsfield NY, 1741), but he wanted to be given the care to which he was accustomed. This was not forthcoming. He was no farmer, he was a scholar, and finding scant interest in his offered tutelage for the university among the bumpkins, he hit on a plan to appeal to the old country for support. That was when the voyage with Jacob Reiff was hatched and why.

So the personal acrimony between the shepherds was increased by the need to get money! Weiss arranged a tour of collection, but it was insisted by the same malefactors that blamed him that Jacob Reiff, who had only just returned from just such a trip, accompany Weiss. Dotterer says Reiff had taken a fundraising petition from Weiss on his previous trip, but perhaps D. is confused.

Presumably Reiff too was wanted out of the way, but they did not trust Weiss, there was no specific need for him to go. This Jacob Reiff had only just returned from that same voyage abroad months before, "to fetch relatives." The fund raisers thought they could get him to make even more money for them by putting any monies into trade goods which they could resell at a further profit. Ever after it was all about the money.

So we reopen the inquest into the founding of the first Reformed Church of Pennsylvania, that institution now long deceased, absorbed into what is called the United Church with some others. The inquiry of "the Old First Reformed Church of Philadelphia," means the German Reformed Church (1727) which had an unofficial forerunner in 1725 in Skippack, where a school teacher, John Philip Boehm conducted an informal church, but without being ordained. This was a mortal infraction among rigorous Calvinists. This informal church met in the home of Jacob Reiff about this time, though it met other places too. He however allocated land for a church building which was also begun about then.

Two points of contention arose and were joined. First the hasty and acrimonious disestablishment of Boehm by Weiss, and second the ill fated trip to get the money to buy the goods. Is religion good business or what? It all miscarried. Weiss left Reiff in Europe with the money, came home alone. Reiff put the money into goods as directed, was separated from them, arrived without them amid allegations and gossip of malfeasance, embezzlement, infamy and fraud. Weiss, the material cause of all this, shortly absconded to New York and was not seen for years, during which time these people fought over and over among themselves. What emerges, especially in the letters of Boehm, is as engaging a political-religious struggle as anywhere, but essentially without real victims because Boehm survived, his pride was hurt, the Reformed church survived, it was too top heavy to grow quickly, Jacob Reiff survived, he became an important figure in the Skippack colony. The upshot is that much is revealed about their characters and actions in what they say of each other. We learn what otherwise we would not know of this very intense people.

Not only that but the events reveal a great deal about the later rationalizations of subsequent church historians who, having developed a party line, are at pains to defend it at all cost, finding their only scapegoat to be the same Jacob Reiff, who has suffered subsequently at nearly every outing until finally they have edited him out of their founding completely. In his role as underdog and gadfly Jacob Reiff becomes an immensely appealing character.

There needs to be strong evidence to reopen an inquest, more so in an historical matter of centuries. If only Weiss had not been recruited by the Hillegass brothers, or if only he had taken a broader approach to who could serve. But human nature and its competitiveness rule that out. Weiss may have been a stalking horse for the Hillegasses to build their kingdom. Perhaps they saw Boehm as so intractable he had to be deposed. We do not at first see behind the curtain. As a pawn Weiss could be sacrificed so the Hillegasses could take power.

"An den fingern hangen geblieben" is the vernacular Harbaugh footnotes to his quotation from the classis of Amsterdam, that says that the money "remained in the hands" of Jacob Reiff , but "Mr. Weiss was not implicated in this crooked business"(The Fathers of the German Reformed Church in America, 268). Throughout these accounts, as with Hinke later, testimony is taken from one party prejudiced to the detriment of the other. So the classis, Harbaugh and et. al. take as truth the statements against Jacob Reiff by Diemer and Hillegas. Apologists however do not ever mention that Weiss owned at his death in 1762 "twenty slaves" (274).

2.

New evidence regarding Jacob Reiff uncovered in the letters of John Philip Boehm, tends to exculpate him, showing collusion and slander by later church authorities for the purpose of defending the institution itself. Jacob Reiff was called the Elder to enable him to raise money on the commission of his trips abroad, but his brother George was the elder. Schlatter, Boehm, the Dutch Classis, the later German Reformed Church, merged into the United Church, Harbaugh, Glatfelter, majority opinion sanctioned by institutions and their historians has been a white wash of themselves.

We begin to account some sources always being digitalized that make updates possible, for instance in 2006, Corwin's, A Manual of the Reformed Church in America (1902). LIFE AND LETTERS OF THE REV. JOHN PHILIP BOEHM FOUNDER OF THE REFORMED CHURCH IN PENNSYLVANIA, EDITED BY THE REV. WILLIAM J. HINKE, PUBLICATION AND SUNDAY SCHOOL BOARD OF THE REFORMED CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES 1916, online as of Oct 2007. Henry Harbaugh's, The Fathers of the German Reformed Church in Europe and America (1857) as of April 2007.

Henry Harbaugh. The Life of Rev. Michael Schlatter With a Full Account of His Travels and Labors among The Gemans. Philadephia: Lindsay and Blakiston. 1857.

Further Comparative Source Note: There is rather a wave of secondary and tertiary opinion that permeates genealogy and local histories of churches and graveyards. Jacob Reiff and the first Reformed Church is a tsunami of hand me down opinions. What was concluded by those face-saving 19th and early 20th century historians has been repeated without question.

To document these reverberations."There may have been conflicts among members as to the ability of their preachers, similar to other congregations of the time. The major factor in this church's decline was a dispute that started as an accusation that Jacob Reiff had misued congregational funds while on a trip to Germany for the purpose of raising support for their church. The congregation diminished until dissolving about the 1740's, according to the history of the Reformed Church in America. " Churches and Cemeteries of Skippack, 2005.

If you like drama and see in their conflicts the rival battling shepherds of Virgil and Spenser, determination and passion, a pastoral recombinant militancy, then we give you a wilkum from early Pennsylvania.

A Brief Vita

Although his father's name, Hans George Reiff, appears on a deed in 1717, the first mention of Jacob Reiff in the diary of Gerhart Clemens, July 2, 1723, suggests him to have been "a man of enterprise and public spirit" (Dotterer in Heckler, 33). "Entrusted by the Colonial government as agent to go around among the settlers to collect partial payments on their lands in 1723, he must have been here some time before, well acquainted, and in the confidence of the leading men" (31).



Supposedly he would have signed the early petitions of 1728 and 1731, as did his brothers, George, Peter and Conrad, had not back to back trips abroad intervened. The petition of 1728 of 77 inhabitants along Skippack Creek, asked the Governor for relief from "the Ingians they have fell upon ye Back Inhabitors…whos Lives Lies at Stake with us and our Poor Wives and Children," might have been better Englished had he been there. Another petition to the Assembly in 1731, signed by the Reiff brothers, minus Jacob, asked that "they be permitted to enjoy the rights and privileges of English subjects."



His unsuccessful petition to the Quarter Sessions Court of Philadelphia on September 6, 1736 had a more narrow interest. He and Gerhard In den Hoffen, a previous fellow member of the Reformed church, who had rented his mill to Felix Good, sought a road from Harleysville to Good's mill, which they claimed would benefit people going to the Skippack Reformed church. This indicates that church still functioned at that time. The petition was denied when it was determined that "the owners and distances in some cases had not been correctly given" (Heckler, History of Skippack, 7) and that the road would only distantly approach the church. This however could only reflect the same "inaccuracy of early eighteenth century surveying" that bothered Detweiler (v) in his reconstruction of the map of Bebber's Township.



He served as deputy for the probate of wills at least from 1743-1748 for the undivided large area of Philadelphia County, including "the interior townships, such as Salford, Hanover, Amity, Oley, Perkiomen and Skippack, Towamencin, Maidencreek, Saucon, Rockhill, Colebrookdale, Worcester, Providence and Franconia" (Dotterer, 31). "The object in having a German-speaking deputy located here, was doubtless, to accommodate those German inhabitants, who lived a great distance from Philadelphia and were ignorant of the English language" (Heckler, 31). He spoke and wrote English, German and probably Dutch, since he traveled those five years in Holland. An example of how he may have been groomed by his father for these responsibilities may be seen in his probation of the will of Claus Jansen, the first Mennonite minister at Skippack, no doubt friend of Hans George. Jansen was a settler in Skippack as early as 1703, a "tax collector in 1718 before the township was organized" (Pennypacker, 30) and one of the seven trustees of the 100 acres Van Bebber gave the Skippack Mennonites in 1725. This was of course the same trust which Jacob's father, Hans George Reiff had witnessed. Claus Janson's will, "dated June 1, 1739…was proven before Jacob Reiff, of Lower Salford, deputy register, October 30, 1745" (Heckler, 15). He was no doubt similarly acquainted with other associates and friends of his father.



Among other fragments of his official duties of those years he probated the will of Christian Allebach "September 10, 1746, before Jacob Reiff, of Salford, Deputy Register" (59).

He witnessed the deed of sale of 100 acres that the widow of John Freed, Christiana, sold to Adam Gotwals on May 10, 1748 (Heckler, History of Skippack, 40) and probably acted officially before and after the 1743-48 period. For example he was trustee for the Dunkard minister Jacob Price, associate of Peter Becker, who wanted to ensure a fair distribution of his estate to his underage grandsons, Daniel and John.



Price conveyed 200 acres to the oldest son, Daniel, February 7, 1741 on condition that he pay 600 pounds to his brother or give him half the land. "To secure the payment thereof, Daniel gave his bond for the said amount, and in case Jacob, their grandfather, should die before John was of lawful age the money was to be given to Jacob Reiff in trust for the said John Price. That 600 pounds was paid to the brother, John, April 3, 1753, who latter signed a release, acknowledging the receipt of the said sum and renouncing all claim to the land" (Heckler, 7). His is one of 24 names that appears on the Salford Road Petition to the Quarter Sessions Court of Philadelphia of June 2, 1755. Some landowners on the Maxatawny Road had refused to remove fences and were disputing the width of the road, "which not only occasioned great dispute and quarrels but likewise bloody blows" (The Perkiomen Region, V, 20).



Another example of his responsibility in the community occurs in the position of armenpfleger, or overseer of the poor, which Lower Salford instituted by election beginning in 1762 but which became an appointment administered by Philadelphia County after 1768 (Heckler, 110-111). As did many others, Jacob Reiff served a two year term (with Henry Cassel) beginning in 1770. This office continued into the next century in dispersing both financial help and board. Anna Maria Zerg, for instance, was "kept by the township and 'boarded round' for many years" (Heckler 113). It would be hard to find an established family that did not share their home with her in 1760. She was still being boarded in 1776. Also later in his life (c. 1774-1778) Reiff served as tax assessor for Lower Salford Township (Heckler,101, Riffe, 40).


2.

Offices and achievements are not so revealing unless they show a man in relation with his family and community. Jacob Reiff's involvement with the first German Reformed church in Pennsylvania reveals much about his life, the character of the time and his neighbors. When Dotterer says that "he was conspicuously identified with the interests of the German Reformed church in Pennsylvania" (Heckler, 30) it is probable this was so from the first meeting of that church unofficially, at least 1720 with the arrival of Boehm, and probably before.

Much later, in 1727, Boehm said that the church met in Jacob Reiff’s house. Probably it met before this in the house of his father, Hans George, which he seems to have inherited on his father's death in early January, 1727.

Like his neighbors he was trying to improve living conditions There was and had to be a significant amount of cooperation among these settlers. If he occupied a position of prominence however it was at least partly due to a heritage from his father.

1) That Jacob, youngest of four brothers, was chosen sole executor and major beneficiary of his father's will, suggests a sympathy between father and son. That he bequeathed him his blacksmith’s tools implies that this was also a trade of Jacob’s he practiced. (see Oley, 48).

2) That the father wanted "Two Indifferent men" to supervise the remaining division of his estate, "to prevent Discord" between four passionate brothers suggests his own wisdom.

3) Hans George’s witnessing of the momentous Mennonite Meetinghouse Trust suggests that he was educated, trusted and well known. If it was required that “only members in good standing in the meeting could serve as trustees” (Wenger, 96), it would also follow that their witnesses be known for good character. All of the brothers were active citizens, more or less wealthy, implicitly educated. When Hans George died George was 34, Peter 32, Conrad 30, Jacob 28, and Anna Maria, 22.

3.

The Muhlenberg obsequy of Anna Maria further evidences Jacob Reiff’s character. Alleging a devout upbringing. Muhlenberg says that Jacob's mother, was "a pious widow, a domestic preacher, an intercessor, and a model of godliness." This seems to indicate that wherever the Skippack Reformed Church had been meeting, whether that early in Jacob Reiff's house or not, they had been meeting there while Hans George Reiff was yet living and they continued meeting wherever with both Jacob's mother in attendance, brothers Peter and Conrad, sister Anna Maria and with his brother George as an elder.

A Reexamination of Jacob Reiff and the German Reformed Church of PennsylvaniaIt should also be remembered that all this time, the acting pastor, John Philip Boehm, served in various capacities as teacher, and as a consequence of the emotional pleading of Dewees and Antes, after 1725, became pastor. So the community was fixed in its relations and settled too in its imperfect way. There is no evidence of discord or animosity before the arrival in 1727 of the first ordained Reformed clergy of Pennsylvania, George Michael Weiss, who proved to be the deal breaker.



4

True to the letter or to the spirit? Hinke, editor of Boehm's letters and his biographer, says that "in 1730 Peter Wentz was a member of the Skippack Reformed church, an adherent of the Rev. George Michael Weiss" (26) not of Boehm, and that his son, Peter Wentz Jr. was a trustee of the Wentz Reformed Church in Worcester, founded later as a successor to the Skippack church where Jacob Reiff Jr. was also a trustee.

Weiss Overthrows Boehm.

No doubt there was a funnel effect from Philadelphia to Germantown to Skippack for new immigrants, but also as a result of his own enterprise and range of contacts Jacob Reiff heard in September of 1727 of the arrival of a colony of Reformed led by the pastor George Michael Weiss. There is no suggestion that he knew of the Hillegas' brothers in Philadelphia before they went abroad to raise this colony. The same reason urged upon Boehm for his own reason to become a pastor, that there was no other in that sacerdotal wilderness, must have urged Jacob Reiff to acquaint himself with Weiss when he had arrived. Would he not want also, in brotherhood, to acquaint him with the congregation? Not unnatural. So it was that Jacob Reiff, Boehm says, "first introduced him into our congregation" (208). And why not, the congregation met in Jacob Reiff's house.

When Weiss arrived in Philadelphia on September 21, 1727, he signed his name first as the head of a company that included the Hillegases. Hinke notes that "judging from Boehm's report of 1744, the real leader of the colony was Frederick Hillegas, who with his two brothers had been a resident of Pennsylvania and who had evidently gone back to Germany to organize this colony" (30). This wheel within the wheel certainly needs turning, but Weiss's first act upon landing wreaked havoc among all the Reformed churches of Philadelphia because he declared that John Philip Boehm, their putative, if quasi official pastor, who had led the Reiff Church for two or more years, was unfit.

If it is assumed that Boehm's "pastorate" prior to Weiss's arrival was happy, this changed it dramatically and quickly to the bad. Boehm later says of Frederick Hillegas and his two brothers, Peter and Michael, "they sought to force in a violent manner and in a shameful way into all my congregations here. Thus with this Weiss they were a hindrance to me and antagonized me, inasmuch as Weiss immediately began in a rude manner to belittle me with shameful letters which I have now in my possession. He ran around everywhere, tried to push me violently out of my office and preached in all my congregations, without first consulting me about it. His attacks became so rude that although very few adhered to him, and these only at the instigation of Hillegas and Doctor Diemer, I began to fear that our work…might thereby indeed be ruined." Hinke, 410, Letter of 1744).

Boehm came to recognize Diemer and the Hillegass brothers, Weiss’s enforcers, as "my bitterest enemies"(Hinke, 322, Letter of 1741).

So yes, on arriving in Philadelphia, September 21, 1727 Weiss immediately preached (October 19) at Jacob Reiff's house, making him forever complicit in the events that followed, whether he desired them or not. Face the facts, Reiff had gone out of his way in helping organize the church and providing a place to meet. He was obviously not averse to Boehm, who had been de facto pastor for those years and a teacher from his arrival in 1720. As indicated above Reiff was trusted as a man who came of a good and established family. It is therefore doubtful that his first intention in introducing Weiss was to cause trouble. It's pretty sure too that he would not have liked the Hillegases meddling.

What happened? Weiss declared Boehm to be an illegal and staged a coup d'etat six months later on March 10, 1728. Whatever Jacob Reiff knew of this in advance, we might leave room for the idea that not being a theologian he could be swayed by Weiss' ecclesiastical arguments. The nature of Reformed church doctrine could have weighed therein for it is heavily based upon rule and formality. From a doctrinal point of view Weiss' challenge to Boehm's legitimacy was then technically correct. The particulars of the coup d'etat and the erosion of Boehm's authority are itemized in Boehm's letter of 1730. Weiss subverted not just Skippack, but Faulkner Swamp, Goschenhoppen and Whitemarsh to one degree or another. Although the Hillegases were from Philadelphia they were prominent in this, urging in Skippack on February 11, 1728 that the people "give me up and subscribe an annual salary for Mr. Weiss" (Hinke, 216). At the final separation "these men from Philadelphia, whom he [Weiss] had around him, absolutely denied my right to preach with all sorts of outrageous words against me" (317).

Congregational Basis

Wherever the first German Reformed church in Pennsylvania was built, “they did not bring pastors with them” says the German Reformed Church website, now the UCC, right there an impossibility as they held to such vigorous rules of order. Thus they had first "urged upon Boehm the necessity of assuming the office of minister among them, as there was apparently no prospect of securing the services of a regularly ordained pastor" (Hinke, 28). It is important to realize that the ordination of Boehm was congregationally inspired, clearly the opposite of a Reformed polity. Initially they had met together of their own accord. After being persuaded to serve, although not officially ordained, Boehm wrote out a constitution and they divided into "three congregations, Falkner Swamp, Skippack and Whitemarsh (Hinke, 29).

Boehm's title to the Skippack church, that "my elders started it" (Hinke, 217) is good only insofar as the mutual commitment of the congregation was maintained.

As the lovable Mittelberger says, “most preachers are engaged for the year…and when any one fails to please his congregation, he is given notice and must put up with it” (Journey, 47). That is to say that at the root of the Reformed church conflict of those years was a conflict between the old and the new, between the hierarchical old and the democratic congregational manner of the new.

As to the ownership of the much disputed new church building, there was none. Boehm was "forcibly expelled" from "our usual meeting place," [March 11, 1728] "a private house, namely that of Jacob Reiff, because we had no church there" (Hinke, 217, Letter of 1730). Obviously that building was not yet there. Further, in his letter of 1744 Boehm still hopes Reiff, "will have to give up the church which stands upon his property, wherein I have not yet been allowed to preach" (Hinke, 411). It seems obvious though that the building was built after Boehm was removed. It was dedicated June 22, 1729, and Boehm says "Jacob Reiff and his brothers contend that the land belongs to them and they have advanced most of the money, and as the highest creditors appropriated it." (217). It must have been under construction the previous year.

But in all the foregoing brouhaha of claim and counter claim it is paramount to note that, whatever the contentions about the particulars of the overthrow, Jacob Reiff wasn't there for it. He had left Philadelphia in 1727. He gives only the year of departure in his deposition, but since Boehm says Reiff "first introduced him [Weiss] into our congregation" (208) this argues Reiff’s departure for Holland and Germany as being at least in the fall of 1727 but probably not as late as December, since the 546 acres on December 1 of that year were only actually recorded on that date [thank you, Harry]. It seems very possible that he left to "fetch my relations" immediately after introducing Boehm to Skippack, whereupon the Philadelphia Church largely took over the governance of the Reformed ventures.

If this strikes anyone as a side of the story they have not yet heard, stay tuned, for there is a very great deal more to it.

4.

His two trips back to the old country set Jacob Reiff apart from his fellows, but therein he goes from praise to blame. So Reformed church historians Harbaugh and Hinke and Glatfelter oppose the favorable views of Hecker and Dotterer about Reiff.

Primary sources for Jacob Reiff include wills, tax records, deeds, ship lists, the diary of Gerhard Clemens, the letters of Boehm, the Journals of Muhlenberg, the diaries of Michael Schlatter, his appointment as Deputy Register of Wills for Philadelphia County and election as a Philadelphia County Assessor, but most importantly, his voluminous answer to a suit filed against him in 1732. Much information is offered in this legal defense that otherwise would not be known. But if you are just starting out in life as an individual and you want to leave a good name for posterity, don't run afoul of an institution. It will have a long memory and not cease, even hundreds of years later, justifying itself. It is after all the job of its historians to defend the parochial interest. Exculpating evidence will not be forthcoming from them, but the damage can be all the more destructive when disguised in scholarship, or in an apparently even handed approach, perhaps with a detail overlooked and a generality allowed, but always with an objective patina.


Consider in this regard Gladfelter's lauded standard work, Pastors and People and answer yourself these questions in a historical catechism:

Why did Weiss really have to take Jacob Reiff to Holland? Answer: Because the people did not trust Weiss.

Why does G. say the donations were "for building a church in Philadelphia" (44) when all the correspondence says they were for Skippack and Philadelphia?

Why does G insist that "Reiff, insisting that in what he did he was merely carrying out orders, refused to assume responsibility for what had happened," when two sentences earlier he had said "they collected a considerable sum which, upon instructions from the Philadelphia consistory, Reiff invested in merchandise." This is essentially what Hinke had said, "Diemer had been one of the conspirators, who, through his scheme of investing the funds in merchandise, had caused the whole trouble" (56). G's language already assumed the agency-principal relation, so, if Reiff did this upon "instructions from the Philadelphia consistory" he can hardly be expected to "assume responsibility" for their mistake!

Had Reiff insisted otherwise and not invested the money in merchandise, certainly his antagonists, with G., would charge him with disobeying their orders. As to the second half of the sentence "or even to make a report which satisfied the congregation" it is obvious that these men were his enemies and would not take any report at all. What they wanted was money, to embarrass and discredit him and failing that, someone to blame. Interestingly, Boehm says they were not true elders and that they were defrocked. Also B. reports an occasion when Reiff. did give them a report but it wasn't one they liked, what we may call “The Kierkendieff Report.”G says "an attempt to prosecute him ended in failure" but we aren't told what caused the failure. Was it lack of evidence? Was it his innocence? He allows us to think generally that the "failure" was an unfortunate delay in justice when it was in fact exculpatory, for the prosecution was flawed and non evidential.

I Fetch My Relations


When Jacob Reiff and the Rev. George Weiss sailed to Holland in 1730, Reiff for the second time, many conflicting issues of character were put into play. The specific details of these events are contained in Reiff's answer to the complaint of Diemer, Hillegas, et. al. (See, "Papers in the Reiff Case, 1730-1749," edited by J. H. Dubbs).

Diemer, or Dr. John Jacob Diemer, and Hillegas led the contingent of Philadelphia Reformed elders (so-called). Jacob Diemer, Michael Hillegass, Peter Hillegass, Jost Schmidt, Hendrick Weller, Jacob Sigel and Wilhelm Rohrich signed the complaint against Reiff. These two had a natural old world affinity with each other since both came to Philadelphia with their families in the same ship's party, led, by of all persons, the Rev. George Weiss. This is to say that they had fetched their relations in one fell swoop.

Although it was Weiss's idea to raise money for the churches, at the outset he was unsure in his own mind whether he would return to Pennsylvania, he had practically just arrived, especially in the event that no money existed in Holland and Germany for him to collect, thus Jacob Reiff was drafted to deliver the putative monies in case Weiss remained. Weiss’s instability accounts the motive of Reiff’s second trip.

Indeed, Reiff had only barely returned to Philadelphia in August of 1729 from his first trip before being drafted for the second, during which time Weiss had pastored continuously in place of Boehm. Then Reiff was immediately put on turn around to return to Europe with Weiss. The reasons he was so chosen include his experience with the voyage, his youth and unmarried state as well as his sagacity and trustworthiness. Obviously he was also Weiss's choice. The odd thing is that otwithstanding his total absence during the event of Boehm's deposing, Reiff and not Weiss has been continually blamed and indicted as the chief conspirator by the Reformed Church historians ever since and pretty much the sole instigator against Boehm.


The Reformed historians who argue this take their cue from the much afflicted Boehm, who had harsh words for literally everyone. If Reiff is especially singled out, nowhere do his critics explain how he could be so lethal to Boehm’s interests when he was not even in the country, having left for Holland on his first voyage in 1727, returning August 17, 1729, remaining nine months, then sailing again for Holland, May 19, 1730 with Weiss, returning again in the fall of 1732. In five years time he was in the country nine months.

That first trip significantly backgrounds the second. On the first trip in 1727 Reiff had been asked to deliver a petition for funds from the Pennsylvanian Weiss and the Reformed congregations of Skippack and Philadelphia to Dr. Wilhelmius, the Reformed pastor in Rotterdam and Weiss’ friend.

Because of this petition the Holland churches had taken a collection which two years later, when Jacob Reiff was about to return from his first trip Wilhelmius asked him to transport. Reiff however refused. Why wouldn't he take the money, since he had, after all, delivered the petition? Had he done so much difficulty would have been prevented, the "Papers in the Reiff Case" would never have existed and the Rev. J. H. Dubbs would never have had to celebrate the Reformed centennial with the dismal observation that ". . .the earliest documents in our possession are of such a character that we might wish the occasion for writing them had never occurred" ("Papers," 55). Indeed after they merged the second or third time they were able to make all mention of this event to plain disappear from their website.

It was not the issues themselves but the personal disputes, disagreements, and jealousies endemic to the time and the people that were the primary causes of these affairs for the next twenty years. The real antagonists to Jacob Reiff were not Boehm or Weiss, but the Hillegass brothers and Dr. Diemer, 1) parties to the initial complaint, presumed elders in the Philadelphia congregation, leaders of the company that came with Weiss and 2) plaintiffs to the second complaint in the Court of Common Pleas case against Jacob Reiff on March l7, l742, for slander when he publicly rebuked them as "church thieves."

These antagonisms become clear after the fact, but the details they exemplify in the life of families, churches, individuals and parties allow us to infer the larger German colonial situation. Such inference adds immensely to our interest and understanding. In the present case as to why he did not take the funds upon his first return, Reiff's reply to Dr. Wilhelmius was that "….this defendant absolutely refused so to do, having been informed by letter from some of his friends in Pennsylvania that some of the members of the ad. Congregations were jealous or entertained some suspicions of this defendants' honesty, or to that purpose" ("Papers", 61). He doesn't name anyone in particular, but the antagonisms are pretty clear. We are left to sift from other sources, especially the letters of Rev. John Philip Boehm, these identities and the nature and extent of their antagonism.

The background to these events involves at least the two court cases, but also claims and counter claims regarding affidavits and various letters of authorization. The first of these letters, as stated, is the petition of the churches to Dr. Wilhelmius (cite in appendix) for "charitable donations." As we have seen, Jacob Reiff first refused this trust because of perceived jealousies and suspicions. Why then does he receive the trust in the second instance? The logic from his perspective must be that he will take the money back on the second trip because he has prior agreement in a letter from the churches, a specific authorization that he did not have previously that could contravene his doubters. Of course, as we know, pieces of paper without good will can never protect anyone from suspicions and jealousies, nor did they in this instance. The very persons who signed this authority are complainants in the 1732 case. He must also have felt that the doubts upon his honesty in the first case were buttressed by Weiss' presence in the second. In addition, prior to his second sailing the elders at Philadelphia and Skippack gave Jacob Reiff a written authority, dated May 19, 1730.

The First Letter of Authorization

The first letter given to Jacob Reiff May 19, 1730 before he sailed (Dubbs, 58) states,


"Forasmuch as our pastor Weiss, in company with his traveling companion, Jacob Reiff, has resolved to take a journey to England and Rotterdam, for the purpose of receiving a collection which is said to be ready in loco, to be applied to the establishment of a church in these provinces; therefore authority is herewith given to Jacob Reiff to take entire charge, so that Mr. Weiss may be expedited on his immediate return with the same to Pennsylvania. Therefore, we also entrust everything to his [Reiff’s] good conscience, and give him plenary power in everything. In testimony whereof we sign our names. Given at Philadelphia, May l9, l730.We hereby request Jacob Reiff to arrange matters in such a way that if Pastor Weiss should or would not return to this country, he, Reiff, may at once bring with him a minister from Heidelberg, and provide him with whatever is most necessary; because if the monies collected should at any rate be no longer in loco we do not deem it necessary that Mr. Weiss should further extend his journey; but that according to his best judgment, Jacob Reiff should deliver the letters at their proper destination and personally make inquiries for a reply.

Signed by all the elders of the congregation at Philadelphia and Skippack.

J. Diemer, D.M.P., Wendel KeiberPieter Lecolie, Deobalt Jung,Johann Willm Rorig, Christoffel Schmitt,Henrich Weller Gerhart (G.I.H.) In De Heven, S.N.,George Peter Hillengass Georg ReifHans Michel Frolich, George Philip Dodder, Michael Hillengass

It is important to realize that this letter directs Weiss to "return with the same," that is, with the money. But it further directs him that if the monies are not ready, which of course is not germane since the money is "in loco," to stay there! Does it seem like the money is wanted? Otherwise it is obvious that the letter authorizes Jacob Reiff "plenary power in everything," and has everything entrusted "to his good conscience." But obviously this letter of authority is not followed since while Weiss does return he does not bring the money.

The Second Letter of Authorization

The second letter of authorization, sent to Jacob Reiff while he was in Holland countermands the first in several ways, l) it transfers authority for the money and 2)As reported by Boehm to Deputy Velingius, October 28, 1734:

"Then he [Jacob Reiff] showed a letter which they [the elders] had sent to him to Holland, which, after taking the authority from Do. Weiss (which he had received from the whole congregation) and transferring it to Jacob Reiff, read as follows: Jacob Reiff shall take the collected money, buy merchandise with it and ship it to them. For his profits he is to have six per cent. And on his return to this country the money which he spent shall be refunded to him." This letter, which certainly ten of us read, was signed by seven men (who had usurped the eldership) with their own hands. They wrote further in their letter to Reiff that he should do so at their risk and whatever might come of it they would guarantee him against loss with all their possessions…" (Letters, 236).

I Think I Am a Kirkendief

Let us take a psychological view of the event. If we grant that men truly accused defend themselves, how does a man falsely accused act? The modern intuition knows that to deny is to affirm. Protesting too much and thus revealing guilt comes along with a modern history of plausible deniability and numerous Machiavellian schemes to confuse an adversary, all to the evading the issue through deception, that issue being, their own guilt.

But if an ordinary man were innocent, would he not be vexed in his statements, would he couch his language in politics? Probably not. He might be angry and sarcastic, ironic and stubborn all in the same breath. Outrage and sarcasm are an honest response when your enemies make outrageous accusations.


Reiff's enemies do make outrageous accusations. One such is the suit filed in the Pennsylvania courts by Diemer, Hillegas-et. al. to the effect that Jacob Reiff "is about to depart this province and to transport himself into parts beyond the seas" (Dubbs, 59). This is especially egregious considering that he had only just returned from traveling beyond those very seas, and in their behalf! After traveling in Europe for nearly five years they allege he is going to leave his homestead, the burial place of his father, his brothers, his widowed mother, all to abscond to Europe so as not to give an account to them of his (their) own responsibility concerning their petty cash.

This is all patently absurd and obviously a ploy of his antagonists to get his goat or as he says, "to vex and trouble" (Papers, 66). So it is obviously a ruse when they ask the Court "to restrain the said Jacob Reiff from departing this province." Of course the Court takes it prima facie and compels bail, but not only is the complaint formally flawed, it is withdrawn by the complainants themselves in 1735. Hinke reluctantly concedes, "perhaps because they were unable to prove their contentions" (43). So this rumor disappeared like smoke.

Continuing however to suspect, as the phrase goes, that where there's smoke, there is more smoke, we are led to think that his "complainants" might obfuscate again. Jacob Reiff had specifically charged Diemer and Hillegass with "church robbery," for which they had sued him. But Boehm adds the amazing intelligence that that was not all that Jacob Reiff said on that occasion:

". . .the congregation made a wonderful discovery, for as they gathered one by one and perhaps 30 men were assembled, then Reiff said plainly before us all: 'Doctor Diemer, Peter and Michael Hillegass are church-robbers, they steal the bread out of the mouths of the Reformed people in Philadelphia, of their children and children's children'" (Letter of 1734, 236). But while what Jacob Reiff says next has Boehm in an ecstasy, it depends how discerning the reader is as to whose ox gets gored.

In all these charges, countercharges, claims, complaints, boasts, fratricides and follies which of these characters ever admits to anything? Right. Nobody.

It's like Boehm says in his letter of 1741, no one would take responsibility for the problem: "Diemer and six others with him are just as much to blame for the loss and deception as Reiff" (3l5). Hinke comments that "the secret of the whole trouble was that when the investment of the money in merchandise proved a total failure, none of the participants was willing to shoulder the loss, hence Reiff was unwilling to make a settlement" (Life and Letters, 44).

It is therefore all the more astonishing then that when Jacob Reiff says before them all that Diemer and the Hillegasses are robbers, he adds, "I admit that I am a church-thief, but they are church-thieves as well as I. If they had not written to me, I would not have done it" (236).This doesn’t sound like a thief, it sounds like an honest man vexed. The fact that he gets sued lends even more credence to his honesty. Boehm gives the gist of this letter that Diemer and six others had sent to Reiff in Holland.

This letter, cited above, we cite again for the added intelligence its repetition gives:

" 'Jacob Reiff shall take the collected money, buy merchandise with it and ship it to them. For his profits he is to have six per cent. And on his return to this country the money which he spent shall be refunded to him.' This letter, which certainly ten of us read, was signed by seven men (who had usurped the eldership) with their own hands. They wrote further in their letter to Reiff, that he should do so at their risk and whatever might come of it they would guarantee him against loss with all their possessions, of which, beside them, not a member of the whole congregation knew anything" (Letters, 1734, 236).

But usurpers or not, the seven who signed the letter were the leaders of the congregation, and they were the original seven from Philadelphia who had signed the first letter authorizing the initial collections.

Also obviously, if the congregation knew nothing of their usurpation, how could Jacob Reiff? But this second letter and the revelations surrounding the events of its being made public caused those seven signers to be "deposed" from their church offices: "Whereupon the congregation met again and came to the inevitable resolution to depose these men for these and other, sufficiently grave causes " (Letters, 1734, 236).

So while Weiss was invited to own responsibility and Diemer, et al, were proven to own it, only Reiff did.

The Petition of Diemer, Hillegass, et. al.

"THE PETITION OF Jacob Diemer, Michael Hillegas, Peter Hillegas, Joost Schmidt, Hendrick Weller Jacob Siegel, Wilhelm Rohrich. In Behalf of themselves and divers others members of the German Reformed Church in Philada." contended that Jacob Reiff would not give THEM an account of the monies collected. While this directly concerns their suit it is also raises a broader issue.

They say that "Jacob Reiff tho' often requested by those Complts refuses to render any account of the sd. Money, or from whom, or to what use he received the same, or to pay or give security for the payment thereof to the Church Wardens or Ancients of the Reformed Church at Philada." (Dubbs, 59)

Diemer's Letter to the Dutch Synods, The Dutch Synod's to James Logan

This was filed November 23, 1732. But the fundamental ill will of Dr. Diemer against Reiff that obviously preceded this petition lasted an even longer time. Long after failing all legal recourse in Philadelphia courts Diemer was still plaguing the Dutch Synods in 1736 with his charges and countercharges, causing the Synods more or less ignorantly to address James Logan, the President of the Philadelphia Council, April 20, 1739, pleading that he "prosecute Reiff. . .church robbery" (Dubbs, 68). Of course the Hollanders knew nothing firsthand about the case and Diemer, easily introduced a serpent into their bosom.

One of the things they did not know included the above-mentioned defrocking of Diemer, Hillegas, etc. by the congregation from their elderships in April, 1734, the cause being their aforesaid direction to Reiff that the investments in merchandise be carried out. Fortunately for him, Jacob Reiff was able to produce their letter to this effect. Who can doubt that otherwise they'd have denied the whole thing. This demonstrates that Diemer's letter of 1736 is more in the nature of vendetta, a pretense of seeking a solution to the problem. He no longer had any official capacity (cf, Hinke, 44) if in fact he ever had any at all. Boehm declares the "John Jacob Diemer, the physician, never was an elder" (Letters, 236).

But furthermore, the Holland Synods do not seem to know that as early as October 1, 1736 the Amsterdam Classis had written to Weiss to the effect that (in Boehm's paraphrase) "Weiss should think the matter over and straighten out the affair of the collection-money, for Reiff could not be forced, since he, Weiss, was the recipient of the money and, therefore, had to answer for it" (Letter of 1741, 328). The right hand of the Classis hides its actions from the left hand of the Synods.

II. JACOB'S SLANDER

"An den fingern hangen geblieben" ( A Committee of the Classis of Amsterdam, in Harbaugh, Fathers, 268),"yea, the most of the monies collected remained in the hands of Mr. Reif.")

The Part Is Not the Whole.

l. A chronological approach to the problem of Jacob's slander does not fully explain its continuation. Chronologically, we cite the letters of Boehm (1728-1748), the answer of Jacob Reiff (1733) and the letters of M. Schlatter, but why were these read selectively by later historians Harbaugh and Hinke? Was it to protect the reputation of the Church itself and its pastors?

It makes sense to begin with Schlatter and see what kind of reputations he established for the various characters. (add here Schlatters call).

Schlatter himself is involved in this since he was empowered by the Synods to resolve the case in 1746. On the 8th (of September) he went "to see Mr. J. Reif, to require of him, agreeably to the instructions of the Synod, an account of the moneys collected in Holland by him and Rev. G. M. Weiss, sixteen years previously, for the benefit of the churches of Pennsylvania ("Schlatter's Appeal" in The Life of Rev. Michael Schlatter by Rev. H. Harbaugh, Philadelphia: Lindsay and Blakiston, 1857, 127). As Schlatter says, "this disagreeable business was not disposed of till the beginning of the following year, 1747" (133).

The problem with the settlement seems to be:

l) that the terms of the settlement are insufficient,

2) the delay of l6 years is too long

3) no responsibility is fixed for the lapses.

By the time Harbaugh came to judge the matter, also in an 1857 publication (in his The Fathers of The German Reformed Church in America, Lancaster: Sprenger and West haeffer, Vol. I), the" disagreeable business" had become a "crooked business." Harbaugh declares Weiss innocent: "it is evident that Mr. Weiss was not implicated in this crooked business."(268) But this is not so evident when we look at the facts. These sometimes include disagreements between allies such as the Amsterdam Classis (October l, l736, Hinke,328) and Boehm (236) about who is responsible. Undeniably, the efficient cause of all that happened is the Rev. George Michael Weiss (add Dubbs here).

l) It was Weiss who initially deposed Boehm.2) It was Weiss who first conceived of raising money in Holland and that perhaps not so much for the churches but for his own salary, "he intends to put this out at interest, so that he can live on it." (Letters, 208).3) "there are few who believe that he will ever be seen in this wild country, if his plans …miscarry." (198)4) It was Weiss to whom the money was given and it was Weiss who turned it over to Jacob Reiff.

As already cited, the Amsterdam Classis recognized Weiss' responsibility in this when it first attempted a settlement of the problem by advising Weiss ( a full four years after the event) that he "should think the matter over and straighten out the affair of the collection-money, for Reiff could not be forced, since he, Weis, was the recipient of the money and, therefore had to answer for it." (According to Boehm's letter to the Classis of Amsterdam, July 25, 1741, in Hinke, 328. Cf. The Eccl. Records of N. Y., Vol. IV, p. 2676 for their original letter of October 1, 1736).

5) It was Weiss, not Reiff, who in fact "departed the province" and would not return to give any account of himself or the money.

There is much evidence of Weiss' changeable if not pusillanimous nature. He reneges his agreement with Boehm to reconcile (and Hinke blames his congregation for this). When he goes to collect the money that he asked for he is not sure he will return (which is why Jacob Reiff goes; they are sure he will return). Weiss departs Philadelphia immediately and won't return to give his own account. Of course, previously, having been in the country only a week he condemned Boehm. He is both rash and weak!

2. The recourse of the historians and officials of the German Reformed Church in almost every instance of their pastors' failings has been to blame the congregations. History has thus become a public relations campaign. Harbaugh takes as a given that the evidence alleged by the adversarial complainants against Jacob Reiff in l732 is true, but does not actually say so! These "witnesses" there are his truth to the "crooked business." A re-examination of the witnesses is in order. But if the Reverend Schlatter and the Reverend Harbaugh suggest impropriety, the Reverend William J. Hinke in his Life and Letters of the Rev. John Philip Boehm (Philadelphia:Sunday School Board of the Reformed Church in the United States, 1916), following the passions of Boehm, alleges, among others, forgery. This is especially troubling in the context of Hinke's admission that "the evidence is somewhat contradictory coming to us from Weiss, Reiff and Boehm. Selecting the statements of Boehm as giving us most likely the true version of what happened. . . "(42) Hinke goes on to doubt every evidence of exculpation, even when it is from Boehm's pen.


3. This becomes all the more important seeing that the past records of these events and the judgments they give are now defunct. There is no longer a German Reformed Church, it having merged in l934 to form the Evangelical and Reformed Church and subsequent to that was absorbed into the United Church of Christ. This church history has now been sanitized to such an extent that Jacob Reiff is not mentioned in the gathering of church funds in Europe and so the judgments of the church scholars go unchallenged.

Aside from mistaking the part for the whole and piling on, the German Reformed historians are both an essential part of the conflict and of its solution. But Hinke has also done a service in his translation of Boehm's letters and so has the Reformed Church for publishing them. The problem is that the published record has not been studied enough, for while Boehm is Jacob Reiff's chief accuser, he is also his chief vindicator. Without the material in the Boehm letters much less would be known about Jacob Reiff, his character, his fortunes and misfortunes against the religious background of the time.

III. Church Government: By The People, For the People?

A large part of the background of these problems relates to a need to have the old world authority to baptize, or serve communion, or in fact to make any decisions relating to local government of churches and decisions by the people themselves. The Reformed suspicion was against the Congregationalist attitudes that surrounded them. Politically of course, these became democratic attitudes.

How dare the burghers make their own decisions? "If the people rule every vagabond may cause factions," says Boehm (H. 332).

The authorities, wherever they were, feared variously a return to when everyone did what was right in his own eyes. Boehm says again that "every one imagined that his own free will was the best "(H. 239). The Classis of Amsterdam told its New York ministers this as well: "We consider ourselves under great obligations to you for your charity and labor, as well as for your great care against congregationalism. This, you rightly judge, produces very injurious results" (H. 226, 1730).

Nonetheless the appeal of a church order was not so great as the appeal that Boehm complained Peter Miller was making, that he ". . .called the Heidelberg Catechism a work of men, adding that Christians were a free people, and had no need on earth of a head, that Christ in heaven was their only head, and that he would not allow himself to be subjected to a human yoke, etc." (Letter of l734 in Letters, 255-56). John Peter Miller was pastor of the Skippack Reformed after Boehm was rejected, also of Philadelphia and Germantown, but only for about a year from the fall of l730 to l73l when he became pastor of Goshenhoppen till 1734.

It is doubly ironic that the Reiff Church began as it did as a congregational matter, with "the people" inaugurating Boehm "with tears," only to later have its congregational wishes denied by the authorities. That is, they first organized and invested Boehm congregationally. Boehm was then divested denominationally, by Weiss, then reinvested denominationally by the Reformed authorities, only in turn to be divested congregationally!

What the Classis was first moved to ratify, it thereafter denied, but it is obvious that the Skippack folk were too congregational at the heart. As Muhlenberg told Pastor Voigt, "it is not in accord with the gospel of Christ that a man should force himself upon a congregation against the wish of the majority of members." (Journals, III, 8) In a similar vein Muhlenberg insisted that ". . .in religious and church matters, each has the right to do what he pleases. . .everything depends on the vote of the majority." (Journals, l742, I, 67) Of course it is recalled that the issues of church government were the least desirable face of the Calvinists.

The idea of self-government, government by the people was feared by other authorities in Pennsylvania, but not by Penn.




IV. The Will of the People: CONGREGATIONAL VS. DENOMINATIONAL

Follow the Money

The question is whether we should interpret the man by the numbers or the numbers by the man. Which will afford a better chance, knowing that a man may dissemble or that numbers may lie? How many robbers up and confess?
Rather they lie, blame others to save their skin. And what is it that makes all jealousies, lies, betrayals worthwhile? Why it is money! Not the grail, justice, democracy, but money. And what do we judge when the numbers contradict the man, take a DNA sample we cannot do. Yes there are lies and liars that history mistakes as truths and truth tellers. There is already skein upon skein of interpretations in the tale. Consider that Weiss is excused from giving any account at all of the money that was put into his hands merely on the basis of an oath he took before leaving town! But Jacob Reiff is accused on the same basis and unbelieved in the oath he took before a full court but he stayed in town.

Dubbs says that Jacob Reiff ". . .was, to say the least, very careless in keeping his accounts." But (57) Weiss says he didn't do it. The Synod in l739 refers to ". . .the bad way of doing of these two persons." ("Papers," 68) Of course the Synod was so blind they gave an authority to Diemer for inquiry. Boehm was enraged at their promiscuous spending but he was mad at Jacob Reiff for his keeping title to the log church. Why would church scholar William Hinke. . .select "the statements of Boehm as giving us most likely the true version of what happened" (42) as if that were anything other than mistaking the part for the whole? It makes one think there are issues under the table not being declared. Notwithstanding his absence of four to five years Jacob Reiff is blamed by Boehm for Boehm's failed relations with the Skippack community.

Reverends vs. Reiff

The adversarial nature of these affairs has been worsened by time, formalized by centuries. But at least some thought should be given to the idea that if the shepherds are divided why should the sheep be blamed, which leads to a closer look at those shepherds. There were some peculiarities afoot. They were doctrinally exact and cold as ice. The problem manifests itself in church splits, wars between pastors, claims and counterclaims, but also in the statement, another "curious coincidence" of Sachse's, "that nearly all the leading spirits of the mystic movement at Ephrata were recruited from the Reformed church (I, 211)." Likewise he says that in the Tulpehocken country the "Mosaic ceremonies and customs were derived and practiced by the German settlers, whose reason was almost dethroned with religious excitement and vagaries." (I, 116). And that "a majority of names. . .members of the congregation. . .were originally of the Reformed faith. (118)."

Notes -

Source Book and Bibliographical Guide for American Church History By Peter George Mode

"On the German Reformed Church the salient facts are given by J. H. Dubbs in "A History of the Reformed Church, German" ("Amer. Ch. Hist. Ser." Vol. VIII, 1895). Four years later a "History of the Reformed Church in the United States, 1725-1792 " by James I. Good sought to embody, though not always with accuracy, material then recently discovered. A subsequent work (1902) by Dubbs, "The Reformed Church in Pennsylvania" ("Proc. & Addr. Pa.-German. Soc." Vol. XI, pp. 1-349; also issued under separate cover) made revisions in harmony with the researches of Professors Dotterer and Hinke. It will be found highly satisfactory. The "Early History of the Reformed Church in Pennsylvania" (1906) by Daniel Miller, although especially adapted for untrained readers, is thoroughly abreast of the results of latest research. "Early Attempts at Church Union in America" by James I. Good (Papers Amer. Soc. Ch. History, Series II, Vol. II, pp. 105-114) deals with an otherwise neglected chapter in Pa. & New York history.

Biographical sketches of value are as follows: "The Life of Michael Schlatter" (1857) by Henry Harbaugh; "The Fathers of the German Reformed Church in Europe and America" (V Vols. 1857 f.) by Henry Harbaugh and D. Y. Heisler; "The Life of Conrad Weiser" (1876) by C. Z. Weiser; "Life and Times of Henry Antes" (1886) by E. McMinn; "Rev. John Philip Boehm" (1890) by H. S. Dotterer and more notably his "Life and Letters" edited (1916) by W. J. Hinke.

Considerable information is to be found in several local histories, notably "History of the Reformed Church in Philadelphia" (1776) by David Van Home; "History of Berks and Lebanon Counties" (1844) by I. D. Rupp; "History of the Reformed Churches in Chester County" (1892) by J. L. Fluck; "The Early History of the First Reformed Church of Philadelphia, Pa. 1727-1734" by W. J. Hinke, ("Jour. Pres. Hist. Soc." Vol. II, pp. 292-313); "History of the Falckner Swamp Reformed Church ..." (1904) by Rev. G. W. Roth; "The Early History of Wentz's Reformed Church, Montgomery County, Pa." by W. J. Hinke, ("Jour. Pres. Hist. Soc." Vol. Ill, pp. 332-346)."

For investigative purposes the following are accessible: "Report of Rev. Jacob Lischy to Bishop Augustus G. Spangenberg" edited by W.J. Hinke ("Ref. Ch. Rev." Vols. IX and X); "Diary of Lischy's and Rausch's Journey Among the Reformed Congregations in Pennsylvania" edited by VV. J. Hinke (ibid.. Vol. XI); "Letters of the Classis of Amsterdam to John Philip Bochm" ("Ecclesiastical Records of the State of New York" Vols. Ill and IV); "Letters and Reports of Rev. J. P. Boehm" edited by W. J. Hinke ("Jour. Pres. Hist. Soc." Vols. VI and VII); "Diary of the Rev. Michael Schlatter" June 1 to September 15, 1746, edited by W.J. Hinke ("Jour. Pres. Hist. Soc. Vol. Ill); "Minutes and Letters of the Coetus of the German Reformed Congregations in Pennsylvania 1747-1797, together with Three Preliminary Reports of Rev. John Philip Boehm, 1734-1744" (1903) edited by W. J. Hinke and others; and the "Hallische Nachrichten " (as above)

More detailed bibliographical information may be found in "Proc & Addr. Pa. German. Soc." Vol. XI, p. 342 f.

Elders, Immigrants, Obama and Ben Franklin

It's hard to be an elder. Jacob Reiff was blamed for not being one. It was official when he did what they wanted but unofficial when not. He would make a good elder, a president when he grows up, if the smooth skin wrinkles and the smooth ideas that have gaps like the rapid transit rails are filled in. But unity is not rapid transit. The elder has to amend his opinion when the younger has gravitas. The elder shall serve the younger. In the rails that come apart, gaps undiscovered, the elder's cracked skin fails at unity. Not ready for a dialogue of oppositions, one party is defensive, another is guilty, the other is angry. Their speech is self justification, blaming or lording it over each other, Jacob Reiff against the Philadelphia Reformed Elders. Boehm later says they weren't elders at all. But when they acted as such they became such. So how can the adversaries seek unity?

Black/white/immigrant conversation has similar contexts. The chief flaw in generalizing particular to universal is that one immigrant is fine and Ben Franklin has no problem, but 50,000 Germans make him fear his way of life will fall. His rhetoric was all argument against the man. They were illiterate, dumpy, crude, boorish, "typical Germans." The "typical" anyone quote reveals a world of imposture, your own grandmother a "typical white person." Typical German. These types are rhetorical, that is, if society refers to one as "typical" they are free to say so back, like chimps throwing nuts at each other. By extension, one Latin illegal is fine. Five hundred men at the corner jumping in front of cars, soliciting jobs, makes for fear. The mythical white grandmother personified in Obama's memory, afraid of young black men in twos and threes on the street, shows the divide of the problem because nobody will admit that fear is respect. A cop at a traffic stop or going into a store sweeps the scene with his eyes, identifying the elements. "Typical cop." Fear keeps safe. There is no inherent unity among people except one created by courtesy and mutual respect, even if grown up within a community and known since childhood. Otherwise you are an outsider and even more suspect. Every day sweep the scene, discriminate street people from immigrant workers from guys with beer cans in paper bags going or coming to work at motels from meth users and mentally challanged squatters along the canals. Feathering your nest with sociology does not prove you are civilized or righteous.

An elder is a judge not easily swayed with honey since he is in pain most of the time and not thinking of an all night drive to Fresno. Jacob Reiff had the indignity to be called an elder at 27, the age of his first trip back to Europe followed immediately by a second. He was an elder since they called him, but he was not an elder. Elders don't walk at midnight to the corner bar for a beer. His outrage at being charged with false pretenses is a man's. The thing that gets our goat hundreds of years after he has returned from Holland is that the charges, just like the defamations of Germans in Franklin's letters, continue. Elders are finite and know it. That is the only basis on which they can be trusted. Certainly we do not agree with them about anything else, being visionary and rash and thinking we can patch the crack in the Bell. The basis of trust is pain. None of the problems of employment, housing, environment, energy can be solved without it. Sacrifice is due. Politics urges loss of nothing. None of them are elders. Young men all immigrate at this corner.

The United Church and Religion of Blood

The German Reformed Church c. 1725 in Pennsylvania derived from Zwingli. It eventually became the Evangelical and Reformed Church and merged with the Congregational Christian Churches which in 1957 became the United Church.

Denominational Old world religion was as messy as Democracy. If you held "pernicious views in regard to the sacraments" you could be drowned in a bag (Bloody Theatre, 485). The United Church today is the Reformed church of the old order brought forward to the new. They were fleeing the so-called Palatinate "oppression and poverty." It is not nice to say, but that means they were fleeing themselves. This same Reformed church was notably practicing oppression. Nobody wants to take credit for doctrines of blood.

The oppressors were the Reformed. Zwingli got excited over infant baptism when his associates Conrad Grebel and Feliz Mantz started rebaptizing. What exactly that oppression was, either you conformed to his dictates or you died! The unofficial history of the German Reformed Church says, "their concerns were pragmatic. They did not bring pastors with them." This really means they were unpragmatic, for according to their own laws they could not baptize their infants or celebrate communion. It is the perennial story of priesthood even if they have education, just like you can't read literature without a professor.

Painted in a corner, "they realized that they were sheep without a shepherd. Having come to Pennsylvania for religious freedom but finding no place to worship God, they would gather in houses, barns or groves and select a man who could read well to read sermons and prayers." You would think from this vacuity that places of worship dropped down from the sky and didn't grow up from the ground. "Because these men called Readers were not ordained ministers, the settlers could not have their children baptized nor partake of Holy Communion" (History of Bethany United Church of Christ, Ephrata, Pennsylvania, 1730-1976). That's like digging a hole in your garden and wondering after why there is a pile of dirt. The Reformed did not emigrate for religious freedom. In Bern, Zurich, the Palatinate they were free to believe in the state church. Frederick S. Weiser says:

These two religious groups, [Reformed and Lutheran], along with the Roman Catholics, were the only ones legally recognized in Germanic lands, whereas the Mennonites and other Anabaptists existed in hiding and defiance of the law. Whereas almost all the Anabaptists left Europe, the Lutheran and Reformed emigration was not undertaken for religious reasons or because of persecution...but for opportunity" (Pennsylvania German Fraktur, xx).

It was the Anabaptists who wanted freedom and escaped to find it. Freedom of conscience exists only with choice. Conflicts of blood and peace, baptize your baby or die, hierarchy vs. democracy, these were so embarrassing that later denominations  glossed their origins to hide their complicity in crimes of blood.

The Reformed clergy that settled in Philadelphia thought itself superior to the ignorant lay pastors of the other side, the Mennonites, but their top down hierarchy contradicted the essence of Pennsylvania. Mennonites ordained nominees by lot not seminary. It is said their preachers were boring. Well of course they were. All the educated clergy were reading aloud from Blake!

Early Reformed generations had to create leadership. "Readers," unordained in the case of the Skippack church and others, were drafted. John Philip Boehm preached and performed the sacraments until September 1727 when a colony of 400 Reformed brought the first legitimate church official, George Michael Weiss. Legitimate means his religion made itself impossible for others to practice. Formerly the only means of grace had been to "ordain,"  their own pastor, school teacher and Reader John Philip Boehm, who ministered with accord until the day Weiss landed. Weiss systemically clouted Boehm in every church. He didn't burn him; he had him defrocked.

Weiss was the instrumental cause, but the efficient cause, lacking foresight to so provide, was that governance in the first place of Zwingli, church order, Heidelberg Catechism, sometime agencies of death. Just how free were you to disagree with the powers of the old religious state? This was made clear to Mennonites by their judges in duly constituted councils. Believe or die. Would this be coercion? Would shadows of it manifest in Weiss' contentiousness?

Institutions wreak havoc in the name of God just like politicians, and then afterward backtrack and take upon themselves the qualities and traits they first assailed, as though they had recognized themselves and couldn't stand it. Is all race hate the same? What did Ben Franklin fear in the Germans, that he would see himself? But his erudition is impeccable, his rhetoric overwhelming, smooth and gracious later when he somewhat retracts his views, but contrast him to Dr. Rush who lacked the animus to begin.

Freedom of association, dreaded congregationalism, religious freedom not religious authority created the independent congregations who engaged preachers "for the year, like cowherds in Germany" (Journey to Pennsylvania, 47): "When any one fails to please his congregation, he is given notice." Mittelberger does not see the silver lining, "liberty in Pennsylvania does more harm than good to many people (48). "Excessive freedom." He calls it famously, "heaven for farmers, paradise for artisans and hell for officials and preachers" (48). Boehm complains later, "if the people rule, every vagabond may cause factions" (Letters, 332). This freedom is an extension of the Pennsylvania charter, Penn's vision in the trees. Thus, Wilemmaus' letter (below) was instrumental in forging, no pun, what Mittelberger calls the "excessive," but which we delight in as the fine freedom that increases appetite for more.

The Reformed Pastors: Boehm

The Reformed Pastors: Boehm

While not officially ordained, Jacob Reiff (1698-1782) was sometimes called The Elder, not because he had a son named Jacob Jr. either (1734-1816), but because he was sent to Holland with Weiss and was implicitly asked to act as one. At 31 he was 15 years the junior of Boehm. He had grown up in Skippack with his brothers and sister, the son of his father who also was respected as a charitable and honest man. The Reiffs were farmers and implicitly educated people for their literacy, as well as pioneers.

A chief question an inquirer to these matters has is: why do nineteenth century German Reformed scholars continually repeat that Jacob Reiff refused to give an account of the funds? He does so in his Defense, in the public meeting of 1734 and to Schlatter.
 Boehm was one of many victims of the behind the back dialectical fratracides of the Philadelphia brethern of 1725 to 1750, but he had trouble keeping his own counsel. It is not out of the mouth of babes that Boehm constantly calls Jacob" the insolent Reiff" (447), " bold and impertinent" (410), not of the suckling when he seeks "to silence the audacious Reiff" (270). What we have here could be a failure to communicate but it is better cast as a conflict between the old and the new.
I follow Boehm,
I follow Weiss,
I'd follow Miller
But I won't follow Reiff.
(see "followers of Reiff" in Letters, 273)

John Philip Boehm was a schoolmaster when he emigrated to Philadelphia in about 1720. It is thought that as early as 1723 he began to officiate as a reader in informal services at Skippack and about 1725 to function as a pastor there.  There is some doubt whether he himself would have called it then a church, lacking as it did the trappings of ordained authority. Of course he knew the importance of ordained authority because he was himself the son of a Reformed pastor even if he inherited his father's contentious nature. There were serious feuds with laymen, elders even, over his preferences, rewards, priorities. Suits were filed, petitions made, angers aroused, reconciliations forsworn.  As a schoolmaster of the Reformed Church at Worms and later Lambsheim (l708-l720) he had had certain duties, as it was a church school. These included reading the Scripture during the service, posting the hymns, cutting the communion bread, but not administering the sacraments or baptisms. There being no such Reformed officials in Skippack things were "informal" there for about five years, that is until the arrival of Weiss in 1727.

Remember, this is among a small group of people of 50 to 100. They met in homes, New Testament style, but unlike the NT, could not select a member to lead them (as the Mennonites did). This of course was because they were Reformed, hence structured in a certain way, but as we might put it, unable to provide for the new because of the old. Boehm knew this law as well as anyone, having served as church adjunct and schoolmaster in Holland and as the son of the pastor. The point here is that before he ever set foot in the baptismal he knew the rules and he had a definite adversarial bent. He woke up in the new world and found himself old.

He says they begged him with tears to assume the pastor's role, but when the majority told him to leave he wanted to stay. Naturally enough (for he was later ordained and founded a number of Reformed churches) he was most attached to the Skippack church, his first if not his best love. But the illegal minister, once ordained, became a legalist and insisted upon his own rights, as he had in Holland. Why not just walk away and be a farmer, which he also was, or pastor, since he was ordained, at other churches? Why sustain a dissension, especially considering the eminent advice Muhlenberg had for Pastor Voigt that, "it is not in accord with the Gospel of Christ that a man should force himself upon a congregation against the wish of the majority of members" (Journals, III, 8).

Your Reiff Church Pastors

When John Peter Miller exited the Reformed ministry for the Ephrata Dunkards in the most dramatic manner, by burning their holy books, he became a radical player in later Ephrata events and the American revolution. When Weiss went back to Holland in the spring of 1730 Boehm thought this absence might result in his, Boehm's reinstatement. But it was Miller he complained to the New York pastors on November 15, 1730 had been installed in Weiss's place instead of himself.

John Peter Miller--pastor from 1730 to 1731
John Bartholomew Rieger--pastor from 1731 to 1734
John Henry Goetschy--pastor from 1735 to 1740
Peter Henry Dorsius--pastor from 1737 to 1743

Buchstaben The Letter--the letter kills but the spirit brings life. Stabbed in the back by a book, that is,
THE LETTER Faileth--"If anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for his immediate family, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever." I Timothy 5.

The Money-- Catch the kirkendief. Jacob's Party

There are two possible contradictions in Jacob Reiff's Defense. First, whose idea really was it that the money should be "laid out in goods" (Dubbs, 64)? Reiff says that it was "proposed by the said George Michael Weitzius (alias Weiss) that it should be laid out in goods and merchandise" and that this "Doctor Wilhelmus approved of."

Reiff says further that Weiss "directed this defendant to lay out what money should come to his hands in certain goods and merchandise, a particular whereof he delivered to this defendant in writing, intimating that it would be much more for the advantage of the sd. Congregation that to carry it over in specie."

But how that reconciles with the letter he speaks of when making the charge of kirkendief against Diemer, et. al. Boehm may well have mistaken, for he says that Reiff said "if they had not written to me, I would not have done it" (Letters, 236). Then Reiff showed a letter which the Philadelphia elders had sent to him in Holland which, after taking the authority from Weiss (which he had received from the whole congregation and transfrering to it Jacob Reiff," he acted accordinglyt.

So whose idea was it to turn the money into goods? Diemer's, Weiss? The tales conflict, but there is no doubting that these suggestions were made only because in their experience they knew that JR was an experienced trader and had already  changed money to goods on the voyage, "to get his relatives" from which he had just returned.

Secondly, what was  JR's motive to take this second trip? He says that some of the collected funds were to have been paid him for the land and the church building, whose costs he had advanced. Did he go to collect the money so he could pay himself?

He says that he had "advanced, lent and paid before his voyage to Holland about the sum of L 150 Penisilvania currency, in order to purchase some land and build a church for the use of the said congregations, which money remains unpaid with the interest thereof to this day. And this defendant for their greater ease in repaying the same condescended to wait till the aforesaid monies so collected in Holland should arrive." He says this to evidence that" he has been so far from injuring the said congregations that in all things he has constantly endeavored to promote their interest."

Why does Boehm think he is going to get any of the money?

Charges:
l. He forged the letter.
2.He stole the money.
3. He founded and operated a conspiratorial  party.
4. He was insolent.
5. He is an embarrassment to the founding.
6. He is Weis's best friend. The "leading layman" (Gladfelter 381.
7). He refused to give an account. This repeats what his accusers say only.

Defenses:
l. Muhlenberg's testimonial
2. His own confession
3.His eventual settlement and exoneration
4. Is he a purveyor of church freedom (in the forgery)?
5.Is he the sport of the vexatious Philadephila cabal?
6.The evidence of a frame-up and a cover up.
Gladfelter: "the unhappy, long-drawn-out affair in which he was the central figure" (117).

Boehm
In a way you have to sympathize with simplified Boehm. Underneath all his conflict with Reiff he only wanted  to preach in the Reiff Church. Even in 1744 in his Report to the Synod he says "I still hope that when Reiff has once been taken to account for the collected money, he will have to give up the church which stands upon his property" (Letters, 411). It makes you wonder when he wrote this, since that Building was removed in 1743.
And why do the Reformed historians not suggest that his too rash personality was the source of most of his trouble. There were few that he could get along with for long, excluding the steadfast William Dewees. Boehm had it out with everyone else if he couldn't get his way, including every one of the Reformed pastors. He had a contentious spirit. Like ourselves, he was his own worst enemy.

Certainly his compulsive, defensive personality and the validation he sought from the Holland synods was entirely the motive for most of the letters he sent, which work out  to be a treasure trove of unparalleled merit as a record of that time. His suffering is our reward, but like any tortured unfortunate who can't get respect, we must judge his antagonisms in their context, not take them as gospel truth as does the Rev. William J. Hinke, Ph.D., D.D, his biographer and German Reformed apologist.

If Boehm is his own worst enemy his biographer, Hinke is his second, for he magnifies the adversarial tone of Boehm's troubles by making everybody choose up sides: Wentz was "an adherent " of Weiss, Lefeber "sided" with Weiss, Schuler was one of the "officers of Boehm's congregation" (25,26). The congregations continually belong to Boehm, again and again, "Boehm's congregation," "Boehm's congregations," until we are surprised not to read 'upon this Boehm I will build my church." If we think at all that leaders should set the tone for followers then Boehm and the Reformed scholars got exactly what they exemplified: 'I follow Paul, I follow Apollos, I follow Cephas, I follow Christ." I follow Boehm, I follow Weiss.

Boehm wants us to believe they are also saying, I follow Reiff. But Reiff hated it and there is no record subsequently that he ever went to church again. Some think, Harry Reiff included, that he became a Mennonite, which in the tone of the current schism between the Reformed/Lutheran scholars and the “sectarians” in Pennsylvania who hold each other at arm’s length is further contention. In Boehm we find a conflicted soul not in a situation wholly of his own making whose every instinct is to seek redress when wronged, and with it solace and support from hierarchy.

The two men, Boehm and Reiff, differ as significantly as do their fathers. Throughout his life, Boehm's father, Phillip Ludwig Boehm (l646-l726), pastor at Hochstadt, was vexed with quarrels and troubles, prosecuted for poaching, reprimanded and suspended for domestic troubles and complaints by his congregation and rash speaking. Hans George Reiff (1659-1726) was a smith, farmer, and landowner , a man of application and therefore wealth who was likewise educated. While he was of the Reformed church he apparently helped in some way to build the Salford Mennonite Meetinghouse where he is likewise buried. When we speak of their sons we can see Boehm has no immediate new world root and struggled continuously, while Jacob Reiff, confident, well respected and self assured in his demeanor came of a well established and respected family.

Of Weiss, see Penn Germania of Gideon Moor, his slave