American Lutheranism | Page 7

set his foot on
American soil in August, 1619, was Rasmus Jensen of Denmark. He
was chaplain of a Danish expedition numbering 66 Lutherans under
Captain Jens Munck, who took possession of the land about Hudson
Bay in the name of the Danish crown. In his diary we read of the
faithful pastoral work, the sermons, and the edifying death, on February
20, 1620, of this Lutheran pastor. However, the first Lutheran minister
to serve a Lutheran colony in America was Reorus Torkillus. He was
born in 1609 at Faessberg, Sweden, educated at Linkoeping, and for a
time was chaplain at Goeteborg. Gustavus Adolphus already had
entertained the idea of founding a colony in America, chiefly for the
purpose of carrying on mission-work among the Indians. Peter Minuit,
a German, who had come to Manhattan Island in 1626 to represent the
interests of the Dutch West India Company (organized in 1621), led
also the first Swedish expedition to Delaware in December, 1637. Nine
expeditions followed, until the flourishing colony was captured by the
Dutch in 1655. The work of Torkillus, who died September 7, 1643,
was continued by John Campanius (1601 to 1683), who arrived on
February 15, 1643. Three years later, one hundred years after the death
of Luther, he dedicated the first Lutheran Church in America at
Christina (Wilmington). His translation of Luther's Small Catechism
into the language of the Delaware Indians antedates Eliot's Indian Bible,
but was not published till 1696. Returning to Sweden in 1648,
Campanius left about 200 souls in the charge of Lars Lock (Lockenius),
who served them until his end, in 1688. In 1654, Pastors Vertunius and
Hjorst arrived with 350 additional souls. Both, however, returned to
Sweden when Stuyvesant took possession of the colony in 1655,
permitting the Swedes in Delaware to retain only Lars Lock as pastor.
Jacob Fabricius, who, after rendering his stay in New Amsterdam (New
York) impossible, was laboring among the Dutch along the Delaware
from 1671 to 1675, before long also began to do mission-work among
the Swedes and Finns, at the same time intriguing against Lock, whose
cup of sorrow was already filled with family troubles and other griefs.
In 1677 Fabricius took charge of the Swedes at Wicaco (Philadelphia),
where he, though blind since 1682, continued faithfully to wait on his

office until his death in 1693 (1696). He preached in Dutch, which, as
reported, the Swedes "spoke perfectly."
10. Succored by the King of Sweden.--In 1692 the now orphaned
Lutherans in Delaware addressed themselves to Karl XI, who promised
to help them. However, four years passed before Pastor Rudman
arrived with two assistants, Bjoerk (Bioerck) and Auren, as well as
with a consignment of Bibles and other books. New life entered the
Swedish colony. In 1699 the new Trinity Church was erected at
Christina, and in 1700 Gloria Dei Church in Wicaco (Philadelphia).
From the very beginning, however, a spirit of legalism, hierarchy, and
of unionism wormed its way into the promising harvest. The
congregations were not taught to govern themselves, but were ruled by
provosts sent from Sweden. In the interest of discipline, Andreas
Sandel, who arrived in 1702, introduced a system of monetary
penances. In his History of the Lutheran Church in America Dr. A.
Graebner writes: "Whoever came to church tipsy, was to pay 40
shillings and do public penance. Blasphemy of the divine Word or the
Sacraments carried with it a fine of 5 pounds sterling and church
penance; to sing at unseemly hours was punished by a fine of 6
shillings; such as refused to submit to the discipline were to be
excluded from the congregation and to be refused interment at its
cemetery." (86.) Eric Unander, who returned to Sweden in 1760,
employed the same methods to keep order in the congregational
meetings. A. Rudman, after his brief pastorate among the Dutch
Lutherans in New York during 1702, returned to Philadelphia. From
1707 to his death, in 1708, he served an Episcopal church without
severing his connection with the Swedes. His successors followed his
footsteps. From 1737 to 1741 J. Dylander preached at Gloria Dei
Church in German, Swedish, and English every Sunday, served the
Germans in Germantown and Lancaster, and, in the absence of their
pastor, ministered also to the Episcopalians. The same practise was
observed by the provosts: Eric Bjoerk, who was appointed the first
provost in 1712, and returned to Sweden in 1714; A. Sandel, who also
served Episcopalian congregations and returned in 1719; A. Hesselius,
who left in 1723, and in Sweden, 1725, published a short report of the
conditions prevailing in America; Peter Tranberg, who was stationed at

Raccoon and Pennsneck, N. J., from 1726 to 1740, and at Christina till
his death in 1748; J. Sandin, who arrived in 1746, dying two years later;