MATTHIAS LOY, Leader Of Ohio's Lutherans
by C. GEORGE FRY |
|
Among the names of the pioneers who labored to establish a strong Lutheran Church in Ohio, that of Matthias Loy deserves a prominent place. At the time of his death in 1915 he was regarded as "one of the most distinguished theologians of the Lutheran faith in the United States,"1 and in his long and productive life he had been a "Churchman of varied attainments and wide usefulness: pastor, professor, editor, author, [and] church leader."2 As an educator, he taught theology and related subjects at Capital Uni- versity for almost half a century, earning a reputation as the "grand old man" of the school.3 For nearly a decade he served as president of Capital. As a journalist, Loy edited the official periodical of the Evangelical Lutheran Joint Synod of Ohio, the Lutheran Standard, from 1864 until 1890. Con- sidered a "religious author of note,"4 he composed hymns, compiled litur- gical formulas and catechisms, published numerous theological treatises, and translated the works of Luther and other sixteenth century reformers from Latin and German into English. For thirty-two years Loy was presi- dent of the Joint Synod, and under his direction it expanded from its original home in the upper Ohio Valley to establish congregations in more than half the states of the Union and in Canada and Australia. Esteemed as "one of the greatest conservative leaders of the Lutheran Church,"5 Dr. Matthias Loy did more than any other individual to affect the development, doctrine, and destiny of Ohio Lutheranism during the latter half of the nineteenth century.
NOTES ON PAGE 267 |
184 OHIO HISTORY
Little is known of Dr. Loy's early years
or his forebears except those
details that can be found in his
autobiography, Story of My Life.6 His
earliest American ancestor was his
father, Matthias, a German immigrant
of limited means and learning, who
arrived in the United States, presumably
at Philadelphia in 1817 from the Grand
Duchy of Baden.7 As an indentured
servant, he worked three years to pay
off his passage before he moved to
the newly-founded capital of
Pennsylvania at Harrisburg to obtain employ-
ment as a cabinetmaker.8 There
he met Christina Reaver, an immigrant from
the Kingdom of Wurttemberg, to whom he
was married on October 18, 1821.9
Miss Reaver had received an elementary
education in a parochial school in
Germany and was a woman of a "deep
Lutheran piety," characteristic of
her Swabian homeland. By 1827 the Loys
had settled as tenant farmers
on a lovely but lonely homestead in the Blue
Mountains of Cumberland
County, about fourteen miles from
Harrisburg. It was there that Matthias
Loy was born on March 17, 1828, the
fourth of seven children of the family
of Matthias and Christina Loy in a
period of fifteen years.10
Loy's childhood was filled with poverty,
loneliness, and religious piety.11
Though his father was a conscientious
craftsman, he was frequently unable
to supply the needs of his family
because he was too timid and too un-
skilled in the use of English to demand
payment from his debtors for his
labors. Living in an unfrequented
region, one of the family's few con-
tacts with the outside community was
through the elder Loy, who, once
or twice annually, made a trip to
Harrisburg. One time, upon his return
from town, Loy said his father
"brought a toy that even astonished my
mother for its beauty and ingenuity, and
which had cost the sum of ten
cents. I remember how I sought a hiding
place when my father pulled the
string and a cock leaped from the box.
It was amazing."12
Loy's playmates were his brothers and
sisters, and they relied upon their
imaginations to transform the drab
forest home into a fairyland of ad-
venture, building houses of sticks and
stones, erecting castles of snow,
and hunting whortleberries and chestnuts
on the slippery hillside slopes.
Of the world beyond the woods, Loy knew
little, and he later reminisced
that he had not seen a church until he
was six years of age. His mother,
however, taught her children the rudiments
of the Christian religion and
required all of them, with the exception
of an older brother, to be bap-
tized into the Lutheran Church as
infants. The elder brother's baptism
was delayed because an itinerant
Lutheran minister, when requested to
perform the ceremony, declined to do so
because the young man "had be-
come an Anabaptist and was planning to
establish a Baptist sect."13
In 1834, when Matthias was six, the
family moved to Hogestown, a post
village nine miles west of Harrisburg on
the turnpike between Philadelphia
and Pittsburgh. As late as 1876 it
numbered only forty houses, and Loy
described it as "a desolate
hamlet" where "my father thought that he could
make a living . . . . The stagecoach . .
. passed through it with its passengers,
and large six-horse teams hauling
merchandise passed through every day."14
With one hundred dollars earned on the
farm, father Loy bought a
dilapidated log house, the only home
that he ever owned. The Loy children
MATTHIAS LOY 185
now had the advantage of receiving some
formal education in a one-room
school, and Matthias proved to be a
bright pupil, excelling in mensuration,
a branch of mathematics. In the village
the Presbyterians sponsored an
interdenominational Sunday School where
Loy was introduced to the
Christian tradition and the study of
Scripture. He was such a serious church
school scholar that his classmates
nicknamed him "the preacher."
Difficulties soon befell the family.
Three of the seven Loy children died,
and in 1835, when he was seven years
old, he lost his mother. Medical and
burial expenses were impoverishing, and
an elder brother, age eleven, left
home to make his own way in the world. A
fifteen year old sister remained
to keep house until her father
remarried. Matthias became an assistant
to his father in the operation of a
butcher shop in Harrisburg. He was
also hired out to haul bricks from a
local kiln, but, as Loy reported,
As driving a cart was not part of my
education at the time, it was
no wonder that, with a horse incapable
of doing the work as I was
myself, an accident on a steep approach
to the canal to be crossed to
reach the city from the brickyard,
crippled the horse by a fall down
the embankment and drove me home to bed
in despair, without look-
ing after the animal that had tumbled
down.15
Matthias Loy senior married as his
second wife Johanna Morsch, a Ger-
man Lutheran woman of Harrisburg, in
April 1840, and within a year a
son was born to the union.16 Added
domestic responsibilities prompted the
elder Loy to seek to increase his income
by managing a German hotel
and tavern on the south side of the
city. He entrusted its operation to his
wife and children while he worked
elsewhere during the day. Living in
such an environment, Matthias found
himself exposed at the age of twelve
to "gatherings and performances
which even then seemed to me of question-
able propriety."
Plagued with debts and bad fortune,
Loy's father left Harrisburg and
returned to Hogestown where he formed a
partnership in a butchershop
with a German wanderer, who had some
money but no home. Concerning
his father's colleague, the son recalled
that he "was sent to the store nearly
every day to get a quart of rum, and
that his face had a purple hue which
seemed to me unnatural." Because of
such unwholesome circumstances, an
incident occurred in Loy's fourteenth
year that caused him to be sent
away from home. One evening, in his
father's absence, visitors came to
the household. Since their conduct did
not meet with the boy's approval,
Matthias uttered a protest. In response,
his stepmother struck him for his
"impudent interference." When
father Loy returned and learned of his
son's behavior, he was convinced that
the "peace of the family" required
his removal. The boy was then
apprenticed to the printing establishment of
Baab and Hummel in Harrisburg, and he
was never to return to his boyhood
home again.17
During the next six years, Loy mastered
the printer's art and made his
first formal affiliation with the
Lutheran Church. At the age of sixteen
he became obsessed with religious
questions, believing that he "had wan-
dered away so far that God did not seem
near and help did not appear
186 OHIO HISTORY
within my reach."18 In
this period -- 1843 to 1844 -- the Millerite revival
was sweeping the country. William
Miller, a New England farmer of Bap-
tist background, on the basis of certain
passages from the books of Daniel
and The Revelation, had predicted the
end of the world for March 21, 1843.
As the announced date for the Second
Advent of the Messiah approached,
"great meetings were held in churches,
tents, public buildings, and in the
fields and groves, and finally when the
year 1843 dawned the emotions
of the believers were of white
heat."19
The enthusiasm also affected the
Lutherans of Harrisburg, and the
Reverend C. W. Schaeffer of Zion Church introduced
a "New Measure
Revival."20 As a disciple of the
liberal Lutheran divine Samuel Simon
Schmucker, Schaeffer was "a
forcible and impressive preacher, [and] he
brought into especial prominence the
consolations of the gospel from a
heart filled with joy over its promises."21 As the
"protracted meetings"
commenced, Loy presented himself at the
"anxious bench." He remembered
that,
The revival "workers"
whispered into my ears, as I knelt in silence
before the altar, some things which were
meant for my encourage-
ment, but which only left me unmoved
because of their failure to
reach my conscience.
Finally, after participating with
Schaeffer in a class for instruction in re-
vealed truth, Loy found himself in a
state of grace, and resolved to study
for the Lutheran ministry at Gettysburg
Theological Seminary.22
The young convert diligently prepared
himself for college by attend-
ing classes in the classical languages
at the Harrisburg Academy. By the
fall of 1847 he was ready for Gettysburg.23
Then, however, he became
seriously ill with an attack of
"inflammatory rheumatism."24 Loy was ad-
vised to abandon work in the printer's
shop, to stop attending the academy,
and to seek a better climate. At this
juncture a position became available
as a printer for a semi-monthly German
paper published by the United
Brethren Publishing House in
Circleville, Ohio. The responsibilities would
be light, the pay six dollars a week,
and in addition it was hoped that a
move to Ohio would improve his health.25
With the intention of recuperat-
ing and of earning money for the
seminary, Loy left Pennsylvania, hardly
realizing it was his final farewell to
his native state.
For a boy who had never travelled more
than thirty miles from his
place of birth, the trip West by
railway, river boat, and stage coach was
packed with excitement. Loy took the
newly completed Cumberland Valley
Railroad from Harrisburg to
Chambersburg, the "gateway to the West."26
Because of crowded facilities, he had to
wait a day, and then be satisfied
with outside passage on the stage to
Pittsburgh. Riding in the rain and
sleet through the mountains did little
to improve his physical condition.
Relieved to find himself at last in
Pittsburgh, the youth fell in love with
the city, which he would later describe
as "one of our favorite burgs" be-
cause " the people have business
and mind their business, and are not busy-
bodies about other men's matters."27
A relatively peaceful cruise by steam-
MATTHIAS LOY 187
boat down the Ohio and up the Muskingum
River to Zanesville followed.
The only disturbing aspect of this part
of the journey occurred when the
traveller asked the pilot of the ship
how he managed to cross the sandbars
in the river, and the latter replied
that "the only rational way was to put
on more steam and shut his eyes."
Once in the Buckeye State, Loy felt
it was "still in a primitive condition,"
though it had been in the Union for
forty-four years. Because of the almost
impassable condition of the sec-
ondary roads, the overland ride from
Zanesville to Circleville by stage
meant "paying the price and walking
all the way, with special good for-
tune if one was not required to carry
rail to help the coach in swampy
emergencies."28
Loy remained only a fortnight in
Circleville. Almost immediately he be-
came acquainted with the Reverend J. A.
Roof, the minister of the local
Lutheran congregation. Pastor Roof was
impressed with the young man's
longing to enter the ministry and
encouraged him to enroll as a "beneficiary
student" at the theological
seminary of the Evangelical Lutheran Joint Synod
of Ohio located in Columbus. Loy stated,
"I had never heard of such a Sem-
inary and of such a Synod, but that
presented no difficulty to my mind."29
It was arranged that he would print two
numbers of the United Brethren
periodical, receive $24.00 for a month's
labor, and then be released from
his contract. After promptly completing
the work in two weeks, he departed
for Columbus.
The theological school, then located on
South High Street, was the oldest
Lutheran and second oldest Christian
seminary of any denomination west
of the Appalachian Mountains.30 Founded
by the Evangelical Lutheran Joint
Synod of Ohio in 1830, the year of the
three hundredth anniversary of the
Augsburg Confession, the seminary's
first professor was a twenty-seven year
old pastor, Wilhelm Schmidt of Canton.31
He was given this assignment
because he had suited the synod's
requirements for the position as one
who "must have extraordinary
ability and must neither need nor want any
remuneration for his services."32
For a year classes had been held in Schmidt's
home in Canton; but when he followed a
call to Columbus, the school ac-
companied him. By the autumn of 1847,
when Loy enrolled, the seminary
was housed in a two-story brick building
near the old canal,33 just outside
the corporation limits of Columbus,
which was in 1850 a town of 17,882
inhabitants. There were eight to ten
students in the seminary, who were
of American, German, and Swiss
nationalities.34 The curriculum included
the classical languages, Hebrew, Bible,
Livy, Homer, and the Lutheran
Confessions.35 The faculty,
since June 1847, consisted only of the Reverend
W. F. Lehmann, a twenty-six year old
minister from Somerset, Ohio, who
was nicknamed the "Walking Encyclopedia."36
Lehmann taught the sem-
inary courses, conducted a preparatory
academy, and served a Columbus
parish. He was assisted in his
"herculean task" by the Reverend Christian
Spielmann, a native of Baden, who was in
charge of the boarding house
for the seminary. For two years Loy
studied theology, worked for the
Ohio State Journal, and aided in the printing of the Lutheran Standard,
188 OHIO HISTORY
the official publication of the Ohio
Synod. During this time Spielmann in-
troduced Loy to the publication, Der
Lutheraner, which was produced by
C. F. W. Walther as the voice of
"Old Lutheranism" in America.37 Under
the influence of this journal, the young
student came to sympathize with
the strict confessionalism of the
recently-formed Missouri Synod.38
In 1849, after finishing two years of
seminary study, Loy was felt to be
qualified to receive a call. Since there
was a shortage of Lutheran pastors
in Ohio, his name was placed upon the
synod's list of men to be examined
for the ministry, and he was soon asked
to serve a Lutheran-Reformed
"union church," the Zion's
congregation of Delaware.39
"On a rather rough day" in
March 1849, Loy, "an emaciated, pale faced
youth," who had just turned
twenty-one, boarded the stage in Columbus
for the twenty-four mile journey to
Delaware.40 In the middle of the nine-
teenth century, Delaware was a town of
2,075 residents. An exuberant local
editor reported what he believed to be
strangers' reactions to the village:
People from a distance upon arriving
here are struck dumb with as-
tonishment at the sights they behold....
They imagine themselves in
London rather than in Delaware. Marion,
Kenton, Mt. Gilead, Upper
Sandusky and the city of Tiffin sink
into utter insignificance by the
side of Delaware.41
A more temperate appraisal by a member
of the staff of the Cincinnati
Commercial described the community as follows:
The town of Delaware, the county seat of
the county bearing the
same name, though it has been settled
for nearly fifty-years, has none
of that seedy appearance which some of
our old Ohio towns exhibit.
It has quite a fresh and lively
appearance, both in the business quarters
and those devoted to private residences.
The buildings of the citizens present
numerous evidences of the
prevalence of good taste. A large
majority of them are new.
Returning to the American House after an
hour's varied ramble,
the unique impression we gather of the
town is one of agreeable surprise
that so much elegance of improvement
combined with such natural
beauty, exists in a village which has
made so little noise in the world
as Delaware.42
Religiously, the hamlet was dominated by
Methodism, and "people talked
about changing its name to Wesleyville."43
The pride of the community
was the Ohio Wesleyan University,
established in 1842. Nine years later
an editor commented that "this
Institution is in a flourishing condition
and bids fair to outstrip even old
Yale."44 In this university town, Loy
began his career.
The people to whom he was to minister
were descended from "Pennsyl-
vania German" pioneers who,
beginning in 1810 and 1811, had emigrated
to Ohio from Northumberland, Berks, and
other counties of the Keystone
State.45 Within a decade they
had established a Lutheran congregation, but
ties of language, blood, and marriage
drew them close to the German Re-
formed Christians of the county.
Becoming convinced that there was little
real difference between Lutheranism and
Calvinism, German-speaking Prot-
estants of Delaware secured
incorporation from the Ohio General Assembly
MATTHIAS LOY 189
on January 23, 1837, as the "Zion
Evangelical Lutheran and Reformed
Church."46 One of the
leaders in this endeavor was Frederick Weiser, who
could claim the famed frontier scout,
Conrad Weiser, as a forefather. The
Lutherans and the Reformed shared common
worship facilities and fre-
quently the same minister. The
constitution stated that the parish was
"to elect one Teacher [pastor] by a
majority vote, he being in respect
to faith either Lutheran or
Reformed."47 The Lutheran liturgy and the Re-
formed rite were followed on alternate
Sundays. Each "side" had the use
of the church building for one week, on
a rotating basis, beginning on
Thursday, except
We declare that cases of death shall
have preference over the services
of worship, namely, that if a Reformed
corpse should come on a Sunday
when the Lutherans hold service, then
the Lutheran service shall be
postponed to a later time because of the
corpse, and in a similar fashion
the other way around.
Since the union proved satisfactory to
both groups, it was declared in 1847
to be "eternal."48
Loy felt "it would even have been
impossible for me to accept the call
pledging me to treat the Reformed as if
they were Lutherans and no such
obligation was imposed upon me."49
He was called only to minister to the
Lutheran members of the Zion's Church.
His conscience, thus, was not com-
promised, because he had been elected by
the male communicants among
the eighty Lutherans of the Zion
congregation as their pastor after hearing
him preach a trial sermon in the winter
of 1849.50 Loy was convinced that
"unionism," or spiritual
fellowship with the Reformed without prior doc-
trinal concord, was an evil, and he
wrote that "we must rather stand alone
than be partakers of other men's sins."51
Accordingly, he strove to sever
all ties with the Reformed. Within three
years this was accomplished, and
the Lutheran constituents of the Zion's
church organized themselves in Au-
gust 1852 as an independent body under
the name of the "St. Mark Evan-
gelical Lutheran Congregation of the
Unaltered Augsburg Confession."52
Dislike of the Zion church building, which
Loy described as "a reproduc-
tion on a small scale of the barnlike
structures called churches in Pennsyl-
vania," and rising denominational
consciousness prompted the Lutherans
to construct their own house of worship.53
On December 25, 1853, their
new structure was consecrated, Christmas
celebrated, a baptism performed,
Holy Communion observed, and Pastor Loy
was married to Miss Mary
Willey, a native of Delaware County, to
which union were born seven chil-
dren.54
Life in a conservative German-American
Lutheran parish in the mid-
nineteenth century was full of problems.
Money was one of these. It had
been a common practice in the community
for churches to raise funds
through the sale of goods and services.55
Loy condemned such customs be-
cause he was persuaded that cash secured
in any fashion other than by
donations was "the money of the
devil and the world and the flesh." He
saw that there was no selling at St.
Mark's of "fancy articles" or "ice-cream
190 OHIO HISTORY
and strawberries and oysters" or
"pretzels, and cheese and beer," and tickets
for "chances and prizes," or
"theatrical shows and ladies' kisses."56 The
stubborn Pennsylvania Germans were
informed that they were to pledge
to support the church and that the
deacons of the congregation would visit
the membership quarterly to collect the
gifts.57
Sermons were delivered in both English
and German each Sunday at St.
Mark's and for two country congregations
which Loy also served. From
1853 to 1857, therefore, he was
preaching between four and six times a
Sunday.58 While a formulary
of the Ohio Synod suggested that sermons
should last no longer than an hour,
Pastor Loy usually confined his re-
marks to twenty or thirty minutes.59
Communion, a means of grace in the
Lutheran Church, was observed four to
six times annually with the apparent
use of grape juice instead of wine to
counteract the "tippling" or drunken-
ness problem among the membership.60
A traditional parish practice was the
pastoral visit. A call by Dr. Loy
was not a social occasion. When the
parson appeared, the family was sum-
moned together -- the father from his
toils in the field, the mother from
her housework, the children from their
play and chores.61 Assembling in
the parlor, the family fell into a
hushed silence. The minister, dressed in a
black suit and clerical collar and vest,
began the meeting with prayer and
selected readings from the Bible. He led
in the singing of a hymn. A dis-
cussion of the sermon of the previous
Sunday followed. In a manner similar
to that of the Lutheran patriarch, Henry
Melchior Muhlenberg, Loy cate-
chized his parishioners on its content.62
They were to identify the text, name
the principal parts of the address, and
to explain its application to their
lives. He would then ask if they had any
questions concerning the homily,
either as to its subject matter or
vocabulary. If they had not understood
the sermon, he took pains to explain it
to them. Loy then inquired as to
the spiritual condition of the
household. The "Our Father" was prayed, a
benediction was pronounced, refreshments
were served, and the pastor de-
parted for his next appointment.
The influence of Pietism upon the
morality of Ohio's Lutherans was evi-
dent in Loy's concern to "institute
a better discipline in the congregation."
Believing that "sin must be put
away from us, that we may be a holy people,"
he joined with the church council to
enforce what he considered to be ap-
propriate ethical standards.63 The
council and the minister heard and initi-
ated charges against parishioners
suspected of ungodly living.64 The accused
was invited to appear before the council
to give answer. If he did not come,
he received a visit from the preacher.
If the offending brother remained
impenitent, his name was announced to
the congregation and he was allowed
fourteen days in which to make amends.
If repentance failed to occur within
a fortnight, his excommunication was
pronounced from the pulpit.65 Dis-
cipline was enforced against
"heretical teachings," and a pastoral warning
was administered for such "improper
behavior" as patronizing theatrical
shows, circuses, card parties, club frolics,
saloons, and horse races.66 Drunken-
ness was a serious offense and the
treatment of the inebriate was rather
MATTHIAS LOY 191
severe for a German Lutheran church.
Tavern owners and those who sold
beer and ale were not permitted to hold
membership in the parish.67 Adultery
was harshly condemned, though the church
laws against it seem to have
been enforced more frequently against
female offenders than male delin-
quents. A woman found guilty of
unchastity was to confess her sin to the
church council, receive pastoral
absolution, and then to rise before the
congregation on the following Sunday to
make confession and seek for-
giveness.68
Delaware's Lutherans responded to Loy's
leadership, and by 1864 the
average Sunday attendance was 330.69 The
parish had paid its debts, es-
tablished a parochial school, and had
attained a prominent place in the ranks
of the Ohio Synod. The achievements of
Loy were recognized by the synod.
In 1860 he was elected its president and
four years later he was appointed
editor of its publication, the Lutheran
Standard. Earlier, in 1853, Capital
University conferred upon him the
honorary degree of Master of Arts, and
he was invited to teach several days
each week at that institution.70 He was
called to a professorship at Capital in
the spring of 1865.
Capital University was established in
1850. The immediate reason for
its formation had been the Joint Synod's
conviction that ministerial can-
didates "must have a better
academic preparation," and, as one historian
suggested, the university was "the
child of the 'German Evangelical Lu-
theran Theological Seminary.'"71 The synod
was also impressed with the
rapid increase of educational
institutions in Ohio, a total of forty-five col-
leges having been founded by 1850.72 A
charter granted on March 2, 1850
incorporated Capital University for the
"promotion of religion, morality,
and learning."73 The
original board of trustees was interdenominational and
included such Columbus citizens of
"good repute for morality, intelligence
and honesty" as Samuel Galloway,
then Ohio Secretary of State; Henry
Stanbery, Ohio Attorney General; Dr.
Lincoln Goodale; Dr. Samuel M.
Smith, Dean of the Starling Medical
School; and George M. Parsons.74
Great expectations were entertained and
the university was to include fac-
ulties of Letters, Law, Medicine, and
Theology.75 A theological seminary
already existed and it was joined to
"a fashionable girls' school"- the Es-
ther Institute.76 Both of
these were united with the Starling Medical Col-
lege as the "university was mapped
out on a broad scale" that went "beyond
anything undertaken until that time in
the great West."77 Encouraged by
these developments, the synod expressed
its aspirations for the school as
follows:
The universities in connection with our
church in Germany possess
a world renown reputation, may we not
hope that our new institution
will gradually arise under the fostering
care of the church, and the
smiles of its great head, until it shall
ultimately compare in some re-
mote degree at least, with those
venerable institutions?78
The first classes met on September 12,
1850, in a temporary location
on East Town Street with fifty students
in attendance.79 Three years later
a new facility built in the
"Italian style" was dedicated. W. H. Seward,
then United States Senator from New York
and later to be Lincoln's Sec-
192 OHIO HISTORY
retary of State, delivered an address on the "Philosophy of Humanity."80 Located on a four acre lot on North High Street donated by Dr. Lincoln Goodale, the structure was extolled as "undoubtedly one of the handsomest of the various public buildings that adorn the city of Columbus."81 It was an edifice Fitted up in a style that makes it one of the most commodious build- ings of the kind in the country. The rooms for students are of good dimensions, and handsomely finished. Large Halls for the two Literary Societies give ample accomodations for those interesting auxiliaries of College education. The Chemical Laboratory is fitted up in a manner that will give every facility for chemical analysis, as well as experiments before class, and the Institution is supplied with the best Apparatus for study of Natural Philosophy.82 The school, begun with high hopes, quickly encountered difficulties in four different areas.83 First, there was the language problem. Instruction in the university was predominantly in the English tongue and most of the staff were native-born Americans, but the Ohio Synod's communicants were still largely German-speaking who believed they were being asked to support a school which slighted their native language. Second, there was the issue of the university's relationship to the church. Tension arose be- tween the president and his supporters: some envisioned Capital as a com- munity college; and others, the synod leaders, regarded the school as pri- marily a denominational institution. Third, because it was impossible to secure sufficient funds, there was disappointment engendered by the failure |
MATTHIAS LOY 193
to realize the ambitions of the founders
to make Capital an imitation of
a German university. Fourth, doctrinal
disagreements developed, dividing
the confessional, German speaking
members of the synod from the more
ecumenical, English language
communicants. Because of his inability to
solve these conflicts, Dr. William M.
Reynolds, the university's first presi-
dent, resigned in 1854.84
The following decade was a critical one
for the school. Though the uni-
versity was organized with a preparatory
academy, a college, and a seminary,
enrollment figures declined and the
institution's survival was in doubt. On
the eve of the Civil War there were only
ten pupils in the college and but
twenty in the academy.85 The
coming of war in 1861 further curtailed
growth, and in 1866 the college
graduated only three men, the seminary
eight.86 At this juncture,
Loy began his half-century career at Capital, re-
marking that in the 1860's "we had
neither a great University, nor great
men."87
Loy labored prodigiously at Capital,
occupying, at various times, the
positions of Professor of Mental and Moral
Science, President of the Sem-
inary, Dean of the Faculty, housefather
to the students, and, from 1881
until 1890, President of the University.
He taught nineteen hours a week,
offering such courses as Poimenics,
Dogmatics, Psychology, Logic, Dis-
course, Homiletical Exercises, and
Isagogics.88 As an educator, he was a
significant figure, influencing the
attitudes of hundreds of future Lutheran
ministers. In the opinion of historian
C. V. Sheatsley, "a new period in the
history of the institution began when
Loy entered upon his professional
duties," because:
M. Loy was a power in any position. He
... brought with him the
editorship of the Lutheran Standard
.... Since 1860 he had also been
President of the Joint Synod of Ohio.
And this office he also brought
with him to the school. We see ... how
in the Joint Synod the doc-
trinal and administrative leadership was
centered in the Seminary.89
Recognition of his role in uniting synod
and university was given by a
sister institution, Muhlenberg College,
when, in 1885, it conferred upon
him the honorary Doctor of Divinity
degree.90
One of the major events during Loy's
tenure at Capital was the reloca-
tion of the university from its North
High Street address, which it had oc-
cupied for more than twenty years, to a
ten acre campus on East Main
Street in Bexley. At the time of its
founding the campus had been outside
the city limits, but by 1876 Columbus
had encompassed the institution.
The move was felt desirable because the
north Columbus area was being
settled by "an uncouth folk... and
the increasing noise, dust, etc., and the
wear and tear which had rendered the
buildings quite unserviceable, again
impressed upon Synod the necessity of
looking for a new location."91 The
students, furthermore, were
"getting into fights with the 'Flytown' crowd,
a small settlement located just west of
the school. The settlement boys
did not approve wholeheartedly of the
'dudes' who were attending the
only university in Columbus at that
time."92
194 OHIO HISTORY
A site having been selected on the
National Pike just east of Alum
Creek, the students and faculty made the
"trek" of four and one-half miles
to Bexley on May 3, 1876, and on the
following June 20 the new campus
facilities were dedicated. In its Bexley
home the university, according to
one of its Catalogues, formed
"a pleasant little suburb of the city, present-
ing, however, all the advantages of a
quiet rural life."93
As an educator, Dr. Loy began his daily
schedule early in the morning.
After working several hours in his study
editing the Standard, he would
leave his home on East Rich Street for
school. For many years he walked
out East Main Street to the college, and
a former student recalled that,
Unless the weather was too stormy, he
made those several miles in
a measured tread, body erect, never
swaying from left to right. He might
have been a retired army officer. When
we met him coming or going --
no one told us young chaps to raise our
hats or caps. We saluted...
[and] he always accepted our gesture
with a smile and greeting.94
He arrived on campus promptly at 1:00
P.M., and the pupils remarked that
they could set their watches by his
appearance.95 When Loy first came to
"Old Cap," he found that
"the order and discipline of the school was far
from satisfactory" because
"there had been a lack of punctuality all around."
Professor Lehmann, the president, whose
duty it was to see that the classes
were properly scheduled, was often so
preoccupied with extra-curricular
activities, that he sometimes began his
lectures an hour or so late, and
"his hours were when he rang his
bell; that is about all that was certain."96
Loy's classes, in contrast, met on time,
and he insisted on prompt attendance.
Once in the classroom, he sat behind his
desk and lectured in a slow;
deliberate manner. He was "not
sprightly or active, but instead, quiet and
still," and he "did not pace
the floor, raise his voice, or use the blackboard,"
and while one student remarked that
"he never seemed to get excited," he
kept the pupils "on their
toes" by his habit of "oral quizzing."97 A
peculiarity
of the school was the necessity for the
professor to lecture on alternate days
in German and English, a procedure which
presented some difficulties for
scholars not familiar with the German
language. Dr. Loy helpfully employed
a simple vocabulary, spoke distinctly,
and made certain that each sentence
was understood. His excellence as an
instructor was described in 1901 by
a Columbus historian: "Dr. Loy is a
model teacher, respected and beloved
alike by his colleagues and his pupils;
a man of extensive learning, a profound
and clear thinker, and a good
disciplinarian."98
Because of Loy's preeminence in the
university, he was chosen as its
president on January 13, 1881, after the
death of W. F. Lehmann. Since
"the president's job had come to
include just about everything except
stoking the furnaces," this
respected teacher was not delighted with his
election. While he declined to accept
the office at this time, he recalled
that "manifestly the duties of the
Presidency must be performed, and I
continued to perform them as well as I
could." Dr. Loy finally did accept
the name as well as the responsibilities
of the position "for the sake of
order and appearance."99 During
his presidency the curriculum was centered
MATTHIAS LOY 195
around classical languages and religion,
and the "chief purpose" of the
institution was "to serve as a
feeder for the theological seminary." Enroll-
ment remained static throughout the Loy
decade; in the 1889-1890 school
year there were fifty-two boys in the
academy, seventy-one in the college,
and thirty-one in the seminary, for a
total of one hundred and fifty-four
pupils in the university.100
The social life of the campus was
representative of the pastimes of the
Gilded Age. At Christmas and on other
holidays the students got "cakes,
pies, and other things" from the
ladies' auxiliaries of various Columbus
Lutheran churches.101 Opportunities for
physical education were limited,
but "it was the Housefather's
responsibility to see that some exercise was
indulged in by all students."102
Chapel was an important aspect of college
activities, and worship was conducted
daily at 7:00 A.M. and 7:30 P.M. in
the winter months and at 6:30 A.M. and
8:00 P.M. in the summer season.103
College expenses were modest at Capital.
When Loy arrived in 1865, for
example, tuition was twenty dollars a
year for the grammar school, thirty
dollars for the college, and no charges
for the seminary. Board was $1.75
per week, paid in advance each month.
Advertisements stated that,
Room rent will be $6.00 a year, students
being requested to furnish
beds and bedding, tables, chairs, etc.
for their own rooms... [and]
coal can be had at about 15 cents per
bushel. Washing $1.00 per
month.104
While at Capital, along with his other
duties, Loy edited the Ohio Synod
journal, the Lutheran Standard. Founded
on May 25, 1842, by action of
the synod to "explain and defend
the doctrines of our Church" and to
"promote virtue and piety,"
the Standard had a perilous existence during
its first two decades and by April 1864
was faced with the threat of ex-
tinction.105 The paper had been
published wherever its editor resided, and
one historian commented that "the Standard
should have had a press
mounted on wheels."106 When Loy
assumed its editorship on April 15, 1864,
the periodical acquired a scholarly and
prolific columnist, a conscientious
publisher, and a permanent home.
He improved the format of the journal,
and by 1866 it appeared in quarto
form, containing eight pages, each with
four columns of print. The fre-
quency of publication was increased from
twice a month to weekly. Its con-
tent was enriched with vivid editorial
comment, religious news, doctrinal
essays, translations of German and Latin
theological works, and reprints
from other magazines, such as Godey's
Lady's Book. The production of
the paper, however, was a heavy task for
the editor, who received no salary.
After the copies of the Standard had
been printed, they were delivered to
Loy's residence for mailing. This meant
that his family had to "prepare
the wrappers, fold the papers, write the
addresses, get the paste ready,
put it on only where it belongs, and
whatsoever pertains to the mystery
of mailing without machinery."107
The children, who took a fancy to the
task, brought their playmates in to
assist them, and the boys from Capital
lent a helping hand. "Packing
night" became a party occasion, with pro-
fessor, family, and students working until after midnight when the stacked Standards were finally prepared for the drayman to deliver to the post office. When he took charge of the Standard, Loy discovered that there was "positively no money on hand." Early issues pleaded with subscribers to pay their overdue accounts, stating, "only feed the starving child and it will live." Lutherans were admonished to give the Standard to friends, and during the Civil War they were invited to send a pack to the troops.108 |
MATTHIAS LOY 197
Gradually the paper's debts were paid,
and by the dawn of the twentieth
century its circulation was 3,322, more
than a four-fold improvement over
the 700 subscribers in 1844.109
Related to his role as an editor was
Loy's contribution as a translator
and author. He rendered into English
numerous hymns and such works
as Hermann Fick's Life and Deeds of
Dr. Martin Luther, Johann Conrad
Diedrich's edition of Luther's Small
Catechism, and Luther's House Postil.
Loy wrote several original theological
studies, including The Doctrine of
Justification, The Essay on the
Ministerial Office, The Christian Church in
its Foundation, Essence, Appearance,
and Work, sermons on the gospels
and epistles of the traditional church
year, a commentary on the Sermon
on the Mount, an exposition of the
Augsburg Confession, and a treatment
of Christian prayer. As a poet, he
composed twenty hymns, two of which
are still used in the Service Book
and Hymnal of the Lutheran Church.110
Matthias Loy merits attention also as a
theologian. Along with Samuel
Simon Schmucker, Charles Porterfield
Krauth, and C. F. W. Walther, he
was one of the four most influential
Lutheran thinkers in the United States
in the nineteenth century. During Loy's
lifetime, the Lutherans of the
nation were divided doctrinally between
two antithetical positions -- "Ameri-
can Lutheranism" and "Old
Lutheranism." The first approach, identified
with Samuel Schmucker of Gettysburg
Seminary, advocated a recension
or revision of the Lutheran Confessions
so that they could be more readily
adjusted to both the American
environment and the temper of the Vic-
torian Era. Once this was done, it was
believed that the essential elements
of the Lutheran symbols would be seen to
be those convictions shared in
common by all Protestant Christians. The
Lutheran faith, furthermore,
would be vitally transformed by the
major forces found in American Chris-
tianity -- Puritanism, Pietism,
Rationalism, and Revivalism. This process,
it was felt, would make Lutheranism both
more evangelical and ecumen-
ical.111 The second approach, "Old
Lutheranism," was represented by C. F. W.
Walther of the Missouri Synod and Charles
Porterfield Krauth of the
General Council. They were persuaded
that the continued existence and
prosperity of the Lutheran Church in
North America depended upon a full
and faithful rediscovery of the
confessional statements of the sixteenth
century. The church, therefore, should
not conform to the intellectual
climate of the time, but should
transform the times by a return to the
"faith of the fathers." In the
confrontation between these two groups, Loy
early allied himself with the
Confessionalists. This was a result of the
impact of the personality of C. F. W.
Walther and his paper, Der Lutheraner.
As his theological system matured, Loy
became a Protestant or Biblical
Scholastic. His thought exhibited the
three formative elements found by
Theodore G. Tappert in seventeenth
century German Lutheran Ortho-
doxy -- an emphasis on biblical
authority, a concern for rigid methodology,
and an adherence to churchly
tradition.112 First, there was a passion for
the canonical Scriptures as a verbally inspired
revelation from God. Loy
was convinced that the Bible was
composed by men who served as secre-
198 OHIO HISTORY
taries for the Holy Spirit, and he
therefore rejected all forms of Higher
and Lower Criticism and admonished
Christians to:
Jealously guard their sacred treasures .
. . and concede nothing to
the criticism and the science that
arrogantly assert the supposed rights
of fallible human opinion against the
infallible divine authority.113
A second motif of his thought was his
effort to construct a comprehensive
theological system by the application of
Aristotelian logic to the study
of biblical passages. He hoped to arrive
at a grand synthesis of all of the
revealed truth in Scripture, and his
endeavors imitated "the solidity and
symmetry of the theological edifice
erected by our fathers in an age less
hurried and more thorough than the
present."114 A third feature was Loy's
traditionalism and his reliance upon the
accumulated experience of the Lu-
theran Church since the Reformation. He
accordingly attached great im-
portance to the writings of the
seventeenth century German Lutheran Scho-
lastics, Martin Chemnitz, Nicholas
Selnecker, John Gerhard, Abraham
Calovius, John Andrew Quenstedt, David
Hollaz and others. His familiarity
with the works of these orthodox
theologians served him well in his struggles
with the American Lutheran movement and
assisted him in his triumph
over it in the Ohio Synod.
Loy's theological contributions served
to preserve a distinctive Lutheran
Church in America and prevent its
absorption into a general American
Protestantism. He paved the way also for
the church's recovery of the doc-
trinal and devotional resources of the
Reformation. By focusing the atten-
tion of Lutheran immigrants on their
spiritual heritage, he helped them
to identify themselves in relationship
to the new nation.
The climax of Loy's career came in his
years as president of the Evan-
gelical Lutheran Joint Synod of Ohio
from 1860 until 1878, and from 1880
until 1894. In 1860, when Loy assumed
its leadership, the Ohio Synod was
only ten years older than its youthful
president. The synod had been
formed in 1818 by seventeen pastors who
served approximately seventy-
five congregations located between the
Appalachian Mountains of western
Pennsylvania and the plains of central
Ohio. Experiencing moderate and
steady growth, by 1854 it had included
ninety-three ministers who were
responsible for the care of two hundred
and thirty-four charges.115 It was
composed of four districts -- the
Western, Eastern, Northwestern, and a
non-geographical English District. The
membership was heavily German
and was concentrated in the upper Ohio
Valley.
Loy had three main problems as
president. First, from 1861 until 1865
he had to guide the Evangelical Lutheran
Joint Synod of Ohio through
the perplexities of the Civil War.
Second, from 1866 until 1878 he worked
to further the cause of Lutheran unity
in North America. Third, when the
merger schemes failed, from 1880 until
1894 he devoted his energies to the
expansion of the Ohio Synod into a
nationwide denomination.
Six months after Loy's election,
hostilities began between the North
and South at Fort Sumter in Charleston
Harbor.116 The Lutherans were
as divided in their response to the
ensuing conflict as were their fellow
MATTHIAS LOY 199
Americans. The General Synod of the
Lutheran Church in the United
States, the oldest and largest
association of Lutherans in the country, had
many southern communicants and was split
over the questions of secession
and slavery.117 The
Scandinavian synods of the upper Midwest were largely
Free Soil and Republican in sympathies.
In the lower Midwest there were
four predominantly German synods: Iowa,
Buffalo, Missouri, and Ohio.
On the whole, "the vast majority of
immigrant Germans of all classes op-
posed slavery and supported the
Union." The only exception of note was
Loy's close friend, C. F. W. Walther,
leader of the Missouri Synod, who
endorsed the Confederacy.118
Loy and his colleagues felt obliged to
offer a theological explanation of
the significance of the Civil War. The
prevailing sentiment among Ohio
Synod spokesmen was that the war was
spawned by iniquity and was sent
as a scourge of God to lead men to
repentance. Though the ordeal might
drive Christians to contrition for their
sins, it could just as readily cause
even greater demoralization. The duty of
the church, therefore, was to
preach the Gospel, comfort the
afflicted, conduct works of charity, and
pray for the return of peace. Ohio
Lutherans were urged to support the
federal government, not because it was
waging a "holy war," but because
of the injunctions in Matthew 21 and
Romans 13 for Christians to be
obedient to the state.119
The twelve years following the Civil War
were a period of reunion and
reconstruction for the nation. Like the
country, the Lutherans of America
found themselves still severely divided
by 1865. The land's largest Lu-
theran body, the General Synod, was rent
asunder by the secession of its
Scandinavian members in 1860, the
withdrawal of its southern communi-
cants in 1861-1863, and the exodus of
its conservative adherents in 1866.
The most pressing postwar problem for
the Lutherans was to plan some
kind of inter-synodical organization. In
this process the strong and undivided
Ohio Synod, under the guidance of Dr.
Loy, was to play a prominent part.
A first effort at Lutheran reunion began
on Tuesday, December 11, 1866,
when clergymen from thirteen synods
assembled at Trinity Church, Reading,
Pennsylvania. Loy was representing the
Ohio Synod and gave the opening
sermon of the convention.120 The
General Council of the Evangelical Lu-
theran Church of North America began to
take shape. It was hoped that
this agency would incorporate the
confessional Lutherans of the continent,
including the hitherto independent Ohio
Synod. Doctrinal disagreements
developed, however, which made it
impossible for Loy to sanction Ohio
participation in this plan of union.
This conviction, shared by his synod,
was that "Paramount to Love is
Faith, and more precious than Union is
the Truth."121
Unable to unite with the General Council,
the Ohio Synod was led by
Loy to look for more cooperation with
the powerful Missouri Synod of
C.F.W. Walther. Beginning in 1855 and
continuing until 1872, the Ohio
and Missouri Synods drew together.
Several factors favored this rapproche-
ment. Both bodies were predominantly German with memberships
con-
200 OHIO HISTORY
centrated in the Midwest. By the 1870's both were committed to a strict Lutheran confessionalism which suggested the possibility of sufficient doc- trinal concord to warrant a merger. After drafting a constitution in 1871, the Ohio, Missouri, Wisconsin, Norwegian, Minnesota, and Illinois Synods formed the "Evangelical Lutheran Synodical Conference of North America" in 1872, which was the largest union of Lutherans in the western hemisphere. For nine years the project prospered. Walther was feted in Columbus and was awarded an honorary doctorate by Capital University, and Loy was offered a position at the St. Louis seminary of the Missouri Synod.122 Doctrinal consensus and confraternity among Lutherans seemed accom- plished. Tensions, however, were developing. The Missouri Synod, superior in numbers and influence, began to dominate the Synodical Conference. Ohioans got the impression that the Missourians were asking, "We are the people, but who are you?"123 C. F. W. Walther, the undisputed master of the Missouri Synod, encountered misunderstanding and opposition among Ohio Synod ministers. Personality clashes occurred. Proposals were made |
to move Capital University and Seminary to St. Louis, arousing Ohio fears of total absorption. The tinder was ready when, in 1881, a doctrinal spark was struck which destroyed the conference. In that year theological war- fare broke out over the doctrine of Predestination. The Ohioans and Mis- sourians were shocked to learn that they did not actually share an identical faith, and in their mutual disaffection they commenced a polemical struggle that lasted into the early decades of the twentieth century. Dismayed at the collapse of his dreams of Lutheran unity, Loy centered his attention on the expansion of the Ohio Synod. This began in 1876 in what was possibly the first union of a northern and southern Lutheran church after the Civil War when the small Concordia Synod of Virginia was incorporated.124 Partly in response to its competition with the Mis- souri Synod, and partly in reply to the need to provide churches for the German immigrants, the Ohioans established new districts and congrega- tions in the upper Mississippi Valley. When Loy retired in 1894, the synod had ten large districts and congregations in more than half the states of |
MATTHIAS LOY 201
the Union. When he died in 1915, the
Ohio body had become international
with the addition of Canadian and
Australian districts. During the years
of Loy's leadership and later life, the
synod increased its membership seven-
fold, from 20,000 to 140,000
communicants, worshipping in more than 600
congregations. By 1918 it had a system
of parochial schools that employed
184 teachers and enrolled 9,827 pupils.
Its institutions of higher learning
included Capital University; a Normal
School in Woodville, Ohio; Luther
Seminary in St. Paul, Minnesota; Hebron
Academy in Nebraska; Pacific
Seminary in Olympia, Washington; and
Luther Academy in Melville, Sas-
katchewan. Five hundred and two students
attended these schools. The
church expanded its ministry to those in
need, and in 1918 its homes for
orphans and the elderly numbered 174
residents.125 In the decades between
the Civil War and World War I, the Ohio
Synod took a gigantic step for-
ward and became a prosperous and powerful member of the
American family
of Protestant denominations.
The leader of Ohio's Lutherans, however,
started the new century with
severely impaired health. In May 1902
Dr. Loy suffered a critical attack
of angina pectoris and was
compelled to curtail his labors and to retire from
public life. His remaining thirteen
years were spent comfortably with his
immediate family in Columbus. On Tuesday
evening, January 26, 1915, he
passed away at the age of eighty-six
years, ten months, and nine days.126
Shortly before his expiration at 9:15
P.M. he had been working, in his cus-
tomary manner, on a manuscript, and when
he had written two pages, his
pencil, "with peculiar
appropriateness, stopped in the middle of an unfin-
ished sentence: 'When the Lord makes a
demand....'"127 A Columbus
newspaper reported that "his death
was as peaceful as the peace he had
enjoyed during ... years of retirement in
the quietude of his own home,
with all his family in close connection."128
Matthias Loy was the most prominent
pastor, educator, editor, author,
church president, preacher, and
theologian produced by the Evangelical Lu-
theran Joint Synod of Ohio and Other
States in its 112 year history. Nearly
every aspect of the synod's life was
affected and enriched by his labors;
and when he failed to establish a
confessional union of all of America's
Lutherans, he turned his attention to
increasing the size and effectiveness
of the Ohio Synod. A penetrating
theologian, Loy devoted his career to a
recovery of the Lutheran Confessions of
the sixteenth century and to the
creation of a doctrinally-conservative
Lutheranism in the United States.
Perhaps Loy's place in the Ohio story
was best summarized by the Rev-
erend Robert E. Golladay in a funeral
eulogy. He predicted that "when
men get the right historical
perspective, Dr. Loy will receive credit ... as
one of the greatest conservative leaders
of the Lutheran Church."129
THE AUTHOR: C. George Fry is As-
sistant Professor of History at Capital
University.
MATTHIAS LOY, Leader Of Ohio's Lutherans
by C. GEORGE FRY |
|
Among the names of the pioneers who labored to establish a strong Lutheran Church in Ohio, that of Matthias Loy deserves a prominent place. At the time of his death in 1915 he was regarded as "one of the most distinguished theologians of the Lutheran faith in the United States,"1 and in his long and productive life he had been a "Churchman of varied attainments and wide usefulness: pastor, professor, editor, author, [and] church leader."2 As an educator, he taught theology and related subjects at Capital Uni- versity for almost half a century, earning a reputation as the "grand old man" of the school.3 For nearly a decade he served as president of Capital. As a journalist, Loy edited the official periodical of the Evangelical Lutheran Joint Synod of Ohio, the Lutheran Standard, from 1864 until 1890. Con- sidered a "religious author of note,"4 he composed hymns, compiled litur- gical formulas and catechisms, published numerous theological treatises, and translated the works of Luther and other sixteenth century reformers from Latin and German into English. For thirty-two years Loy was presi- dent of the Joint Synod, and under his direction it expanded from its original home in the upper Ohio Valley to establish congregations in more than half the states of the Union and in Canada and Australia. Esteemed as "one of the greatest conservative leaders of the Lutheran Church,"5 Dr. Matthias Loy did more than any other individual to affect the development, doctrine, and destiny of Ohio Lutheranism during the latter half of the nineteenth century.
NOTES ON PAGE 267 |