Rev. John Peter Muhlenberg: “In the language of the Holy Writ, there is a time for all things. There is a time to preach and a time to fight. And now is the time to fight” (2024)

“For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven,” preachedRev. John Peter Muhlenberg,from the book of Ecclesiastes 3:1.

He closed his message by saying:

“In the language of the Holy Writ, there is a time for all things. There is a time to preach and a time to fight. And now is the time to fight.”

John Peter Gabriel Muhlenbergwas a 30 year old member of the Virginia House of Burgesses, who was also a pastor.

At the end of his sermon, January 21, 1776,John Peter Muhlenbergthrew off his clerical robes to reveal the uniform of an officer in the Continental Army.

Drums began to roll, men kissed their wives, and they walked down the aisle to enlist.

The next day,Pastor Muhlenbergled 300 men of his church and surrounding churches to joinGeneral Washington’s Continental Armyas the8th Virginia Regiment.

John Peter Muhlenbergwas born OCTOBER 1, 1746, and he died the same day sixty-one years later, OCTOBER 1, 1807.

As a youth, he lived with relatives in Germany from 1763-1767: first in the city of Halle (Saale) in the southern part of the German state Saxony-Anhalt; then in the northern German port city of Lübeck in Schleswig-Holstein.

John Peter Muhlenbergserved briefly in the German dragoons.

In 1767, he returned to America to finish his schooling at theAcademy of Philadelphia (University of Pennsylvania),which was founded byBen Franklin,who helped build the school’s first hall forEvangelist George Whitefieldto preach in.

In 1772,John Peter Muhlenbergtraveled to England where he wasordained as a minister in the Anglican Church,a necessary requirement for him to pastor theLutheran congregationin Woodstock, Virginia,as Virginia was established an Anglican colony.

In 1774,Pastor John Peter Muhlenbergwas elected to theVirginia House of Burgesses.He served as adelegateto theFirst Virginia Convention.

He heardPatrick Henry’sfamous “Give me liberty or give me death” speech in 1775, and was inspired to enlist.

General George Washingtongave him the rank of Colonel and personally asked him to raise a regiment of soldiers.

John Peter Muhlenbergand his men endured the freezing winter ofValley Forgeand saw action atBrandywine, Germantown, Monmouth,andStonypoint.

He helped forceBritish General Cornwallisto surrender atYorktown.

By the end of the warJohn Peter Muhlenbergwas promoted to the rank ofMajor-General.

In 1789, he was electeda Representativeto thefirst sessionof theU.S. Congress.

John Peter’sgrandfather wasConrad Weiser,a pietist layGerman Lutheran ministerwho was interpreter with theMohawk, Iroquois, Lenape-Delaware,andShawnee tribes.

Weiserserved as the Indian interpreter for the pietistCount Ludwig von Zinzendorfwhen he visited America in 1741, and foundedBethlehem, Pennsylvania.

Due toConrad Weiser’speace-brokering, theIroquoisstayed allied with theBritishduring theFrench and Indian War,which was critical to the survival of theBritish coloniesinAmerica.

John Peter’sfather was the pietist pastorHenry Muhlenberg,known as“the Patriarch of the Lutheran Church in America.”

Pastorsin America held one oftwobasic views.

• The first was aCalvinist Puritan view:that God has a plan for yourlife, marriage, family, employment, church,andgovernment.Believers are to find out what God’s plan is and put it into effect.

• The second was aPietist view,which emphasized a personal relationship with God and a separation from the sinful world.

WhenMartin Lutherstarted theReformation,he had an intenselypersonal revelationthatthe just shall live by faith,but when some German kings wanted to break away from Rome, they made the impersonal decision for their entire kingdom that everyone had to beLutheran.

To many individuals in these kingdoms, it was not a personal decision but rather an acknowledgment of a new set of state-approved doctrines.

So the revival movement ofpietismbegan.

Pietism’sview was that being a Christian was not just acknowledging a new set of doctrines, as scriptural as those doctrines may be, buta person also needed to have a personal experience with Jesus, through the power of the Holy Spirit,and when they did, their life should change.

They wouldno longergo to worldlybars, brothels, lewd theaters,or beinvolved in worldly government.

What? What was that last item?

Yes, government!If someone was truly a Christian they would not be involved in government,as it was filled full of selfish, ambitious,worldly people.

It was an early version ofseparation of church and state.

Some influenced bypietismwould not even vote.

John Peter Muhlenberghad abrotherwould was a pietist Lutheran pastor,Fredrick Augustus Muhlenberg.

He was pastor ofChrist Lutheran ChurchinNew York City,nicknamed the “Old Swamp Church,” which had branched off of one of the oldest Lutheran Churches in America.

The pietistFrederickopposedJohn Peter’sinvolvement in politics, writing to him:

“You have become too involved in matters which,as a preacher,you have nothing whatsoever to do.”

John Peterwrote back, accusingFrederickof being aBritish Tory sympathizer.

Frederickwrote back stating he could not serve two masters.

Then theBritishbombarded and invaded New York City following the Battle of Brooklyn Heights, andFredrick Muhlenberg’s church was burned,forcing him and his family to flee the city.

After this,Frederickchanged his mind and decided he should get involved.

He joined the patriotic cause and was elected as adelegateto theContinental Congressin 1779.

Frederick Augustus Muhlenbergwas electedSpeaker of the Pennsylvania General Assembly,1780-1783, and presided overPennsylvania’s Convention to Ratify the U.S. Constitution.

Frederick Augustus Muhlenbergwas elected to theU.S. Congress,which met in New York City.

He was chosen to be thefirst Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives.

JohnandFrederick Muhlenberg,bothordained Lutheran pastors,served in thefirst sessionofCongresswhichpassed the First Ten Amendments,calledThe Bill of Rights.

Does anybody honestly think that these twoPastor-Congressmanwould vote to outlaw themselves?

On the contrary, their involvement, being bothanti-Federalists,underscored the fact that theFirst Amendmentwas not keep people of faith out of government.

Instead, theFirst Amendment,as well as thefirst Ten Amendments,were meant to behandcuffs on the power of the Federal Government,as stated in thePreamble to the Bill of Rights:

“…the States,having at the time of their adopting the Constitution, expressed a desire, in order topreventmisconstruction orabuse of its powers,that further declaratory andrestrictive clausesshould be added.”

TheBill of Rightslimited the Federal Government’s power.

In other words, if the subject of religion came before theU.S. Congress,theSupreme Courtor thePresident,their response was to be“hands off – religion is under each individual state’s jurisdiction.”

The Federal Government was limitedfrom “prohibiting the free exercise” of religion as well as from taking away from the states and individuals thefreedom of speech, press, right to peaceably to assemble,orpetition the Government for a redress of grievances.

Supreme Court Justice Josephwrote inA Familiar Exposition of the Constitution of the United States, 1840:

“The real object of the First Amendmentwas not to countenance, much less to advanceMohammedanism,orJudaism,orinfidelity,by prostratingChristianity,but toexclude all rivalry among Christian sectsand to prevent any national ecclesiastical establishment which should give to a hierarchy the exclusive patronage of the national government.”

Justice Samuel Chasewrote in Maryland Supreme Court case ofRunkel v. Winemiller,1799:

“By our form of government, theChristian religion is the established religion;andall sects and denominations of Christians are placed upon the same equal footing,and areequally entitled to protectionin their religious liberty.”

John Peter Muhlenbergserved onPennsylvania’s Supreme Executive Councilin 1784, and in 1787 he was electedVice-President (Lieutenant-Governor) of Pennsylvania.

In 1790,John Peter Muhlenbergwas a member of thePennsylvania’s State Constitutional Convention.

Being ananti-Federalist,he founded some of thefirst Democratic-Republican Societiesin 1793.

John Peter Muhlenbergserved as a Trustee of theUniversity of Pennsylvania,his alma mater.

In 1801, he was elected aU.S. Senator.

He was also appointed byPresident Thomas Jeffersonas Supervisor of Revenue for Pennsylvania, 1801, and Customs Collector for Philadelphia, 1802.

His statue is in front of theShenendoah County Courthousein Woodstock, Virginia.

A memorial toJohn Peter Muhlenbergstands behind thePhiladelphia Museum of Art.

Muhlenberg, Kentucky,andMuhlenberg Collegein Allentown, Pennsylvania, are named for him.

In Washington, D.C., at the corner of Connecticut Ave. and Ellicott St., there is a bronze memorial toJohn Peter Gabriel Muhlenberg,with the inscription:

JOHN PETER GABRIEL MUHLENBERG

1746-1807

SERVING

HIS CHURCH

HIS COUNTRY

HIS STATE

… THE “FIGHTING PARSON OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION”

In 1889, the State of Pennsylvania placed a statue ofJohn Peter Muhlenbergin theU.S. Capitol’s Statuary Hall.

He was memorialized in a poem by Thomas Buchanan Read, titled“The Rising,”published inWilliam Holmes McGuffey’s Fifth Eclectic Reader(Cincinnati & New York: Van Antwerp, Bragg & Co., revised ed., 1879, Lesson LXV, pp. 200-204):

… Within its shade of elm and oak

The church of Berkley Manor stood:

There Sunday found the rural folk,

And some esteemed of gentle blood.

In vain their feet with loitering tread

Passed ‘mid the graves where rank is naught:

All could not read the lesson taught

In that republic of the dead.

The pastor rose: the prayer was strong;

The psalm was warrior David’s song;

The text, a few short words of might,-

‘The Lord of Hosts shall arm the right!’

He spoke of wrongs too long endured,

Of sacred rights to be secured;

Then from his patriot tongue of flame

The startling words for Freedom came.

The stirring sentences he spake

Compelled the heart to glow or quake,

And, rising on his theme’s broad wing,

And grasping in his nervous hand

The imaginary battle-brand,

In face of death he dared to fling

Defiance to a tyrant king.

Even as he spoke, his frame renewed

In eloquence of attitude,

Rose, as it seemed, a shoulder higher;

Then swept his kindling glance of fire

From startled pew to breathless choir;

When suddenly his mantle wide

His hands impatient flung aside,

And, lo! He met their wondering eyes

Complete in all a warrior’s guise.

A moment there was awful pause,-

When Berkley cried, ‘Cease, traitor! Cease!

God’s temple is the house of peace!’

The other shouted, ‘Nay, not so,

When God is with our righteous cause:

His holiest places then are ours,

His temples are our forts and towers

That frown upon the tyrant foe:

In this the dawn of Freedom’s day

There is a time to fight and pray!’

And now before the open door-

Thewarrior priesthad ordered so-

The enlisting trumpet’s sudden soar

Rang through the chapel, o’er and o’er,

Its long reverberating blow,

So loud and clear, it seemed the ear

Of dusty death must wake and hear.

And there the startling drum and fife

Fired the living with fiercer life;

While overhead with wild increase,

Forgetting its ancient toll of peace,

The great bell swung as ne’er before:

It seemed as it would never cease;

And every word its ardor flung

From off its jubilant iron tongue

Was, ‘War! War! War!’

“Who dares”-this was the patriot’s cry,

As striding from the desk he came –

“Come out with me, in Freedom’s name,

For her to live, for her to die?”

A hundred hands flung up reply,

A hundred voices answered “I!”

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