Fourth of July Weekend

The year is 1776. The Rev. Dr. Henry Melchoir Muhlenberg and his wife Anna Maria had left Philadelphia on July 11 and moved to their home in Trappe, Upper Providence Township in Montgomery County. As head of the Lutheran churches in the colonies, Muhlenberg had a great deal of responsibility. While he was at Trappe, one of the pastors from Virginia, Christian Streit wrote to him asking that Muhlenberg send a pastor for his congregations so that Streit could go into the army as a chaplain.

A few weeks later two companies of Pennsylvania militia camped in the yard of the Providence Church on their way to New Jersey. Muhlenberg was asked to give the men a word of admonition and in his journal shared the Biblical texts for the day – I Samuel 17 and Psalm 27. Let’s listen in as Dr. Muhlenberg prepares his remarks and solicits the help of his wife, Anna Maria.

Henry M. Muhlenberg

Reformation, Media

I take my text today from I Samuel. “So David took his staff in his hand and chose five smooth stones from the riverbed and put them in his shepherd’s bag, in the pouch; his sling was in his hand, and he drew near to the Philistine.” (I Samuel 17:40)

He was young and most of the veterans in the Israeli army must have thought that he was foolish – after all, the giant Goliath had been challenging the Israeli’s to send their best man to fight him for forty days, and no one had the courage to accept the challenge. The might of Goliath was renowned, a veteran warrior who had never lost a battle. His size and might were visible for all to see and the Israelites fled in terror before him.

Well, what do you think of that for a beginning, Maria? I was asked to say a word to the American militia who are camped here at Augustus church on their way to New Jersey and I want to be sure to get their attention.

Maria: The text is a good one, Henry, the militia certainly has the enthusiasm and confidence of David, ever since the Continental Congress openly declared America’s independence last month – and it seems that everyone wants to be in the militia. Didn’t you tell me that Christian Streit sent you a letter requesting that a minister from our Ministerium care for his congregations so he could be an army chaplain?

H.—Yes, that’s true. But, as I said before, “There is one who sits at the rudder, who has the plan of the whole before him, to whom all power in heaven and on earth is given, and who has never yet made a mistake in his government. He it is who neither sleeps nor slumbers and who has asked his people to pray, ‘Hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done.’” (Notebook, p. 161) In the end, he will decide if this text is the right one for the occasion.

M – Well if you ask me . . .

H – Which I haven’t. . .

M – But if you were to ask me, I don’t know how you can still be uncertain and defend the crown – why those Englishmen ran our son Frederick out of New York without time to even pack up all of his possessions. How’s a young family to be able to survive when they leave behind necessary household possessions and most of the rest of what they have is smashed to pieces on the journey (ibid. p 160, 163)

H – Yes, I know my dear, but one needs to be impartial and emulate our heavenly father, who makes his sun to rise on the evil and on the good and sends rain on the just and the unjust. I have not been charged with the task of investigating and comprehending the matter in controversy, nor is it possible for me to determine which party has the highest and best right. Contending parties cannot be their own judges, and private persons possess no infallible scales to weigh without error the preponderant arguments of both sides.

This is evident in this controversy in the many writings pro and contra, indeed, even in the speeches made on both sides of the conflict in parliament. Therefore, since ministers neither can nor should be judges or arbitrators in such a conflict, they do best if they commit the whole thingto the only and highest Judge of heaven and earth and follow the rule of the Spirit of God given through the Apostle Paul in Romans 13 –‘Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers,’ etc. If God’s governance ordains or suffers that a king or a parliament or a congress should have power over me, then I must be subject to and serve two discordant masters at the same time.”

M – Well, your sons aren’t all as balanced in their views as you – Frederick is clearly enthused by the Declaration of Independence and active in the effort and I wouldn’t be surprised if Peter gets involved too.

H. – Yes, yes, we will see whether they are judging correctly. . . Goliath’s size and might were visible for all to see and many fled before him, but David – a young lad, about the age of many of you – perhaps even a bit younger, but when he heard Goliath’s challenge he said, “Who is this Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God?” For David knew, as you also must know, that when a cause is God’s cause, when a conflict is fought in order to further God’s purposes, then no might in the world can defeat those purposes and even the mightiest warriors will fall.

So David volunteered to fight Goliath, and Saul clothed him with his own coat of mail and put his own helmut on David’s head and strapped his own sword over the armor, but David said to Saul, I can’t fight like this – the old way of fighting, isn’t going to work, and I am not used to all of this equipment – so David removed them and took his staff in his hand and chose five smooth stones from the wadi and put them in his shepherd’s bag, in the pouch; his sling was in his hand, and he drew new to the Philistine.

M – That’s good Henry, it will be encouraging to those young men and to their families. Encourage them to have faith in God to sustain them in the months ahead – maybe you could include some of the verses of Psalm 27.

H – “The Lord is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?

M – Though an army should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear; though war rise up against me, yet I will be confident. . . I believe I shall see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait for the Lord; be strong and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord.

H. – Good – maybe like this -- Men, as you go into this battle, you are ill equipped and not well trained, but you know the woods and you know how to shoot. The British, like Goliath may laugh at you, for they are the mightiest army on earth. But with the Lord in your side, no one can defeat you so above all, pray to God that our cause is just and right – remember these words, “The Lord is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear. . . bend over, pick up five smooth stones . . . though an army should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear; though war rise against me, yet I will be confident . . . put them in your pouch, sling in your hand and draw near to the Philistine . . . Wait for the Lord, be strong and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord.

M – Amen.

H – Yes, Amen. May God be with all those in the battle.