LUTHERAN THEOLOGICAL REVIEW - Concordia Lutheran Seminary

94 LUTHERAN THEOLOGICAL REVIEW XII
situations but to use his years of experience to provide support for the
congregations. 136
From his letter of 9 March 1763, it appears that Ziegenhagen may have
felt that his assessment of Muehlenberg twenty years earlier had been largely
accurate. Twenty years of experience in America should have been sufficient
for Muehlenberg to be able to handle the situations which presented
themselves. Yet, he still came to Ziegenhagen and Francke, who had never
been in America, for their advice. His limited information, however, made it
difficult for them to provide proper advice, leaving Ziegenhagen to feel that
Muehlenberg was more interested in complaining than in solving his
problems. What also irritated Ziegenhagen was that he had cause to question
Muehlenberg’s objectivity in reporting situations. For Ziegenhagen had a
visit from a certain Leimle who belonged to a group of people in
Philadelphia who opposed Muehlenberg. Naturally, Leimle’s view of things
in Philadelphia would differ from Muehlenberg’s report of them. But this
left Ziegenhagen doubly in the dark and did not help his relationship with
Muehlenberg. Thus, Ziegenhagen was relieved when Muehlenberg directed
his London correspondence to F. W. Pasche, Ziegenhagen’s assistant, and
with G. A. Wachsel, the preacher at St George’s German Church in London.
The natural development of the Lutheran Church in North America,
which began to include pastors who had not been educated in Halle, as well
as the advancing age of Ziegenhagen and Francke, meant that by the 1760s
little central control was being exerted from London and Halle. To be sure,
as long as these second generation Pietists were alive, a psychological tie
was maintained and, materially, some help continued to come to North
America from overseas. Thus, when Ziegenhagen died in 1776, Pasche
informed Muehlenberg of his passing in the following words: “What a great
loss this will be for the dear United Evangelical Lutheran congregations and
their preachers in Pennsylvania … .” And, in spite of the fact that
Ziegenhagen did not have as close a relationship as Muehlenberg had
wished, the latter could say of him, “To lose such a spiritual father,
counsellor, benefactor, intercessor, guide, etc., in these very critical and
dangerous times is no small thing for the whole or for its smallest parts.” 137
Norman J. Threinen, Th.D., is Professor of Historical Theology at
Concordia Lutheran Seminary, Edmonton, Alberta.
136 Ziegenhagen to Muehlenberg, Kensington, 9 March 1763, printed in Aland 3:31-41.
137 Cited in Brunner 69.