h and relief on the former occasion. On the 30th
of July I was taken to the pious English merchant, who had some awakened
souls with him. They sang a psalm, read a chapter from a devotional
book, and urged me to pray at the close. After a time the dear souls
returned to their homes, and I remained with him till eleven o'clock and
employed the time in pleasant and edifying conversation with him and his
godly wife." "August 1, Saturday evening, I preached penitential sermons
both in the German and Dutch languages. . . . The church was well filled
on this occasion, and the parting seemed to touch and sadden the
awakened and well-meaning souls." Weygand continued the work in the
spirit of Muhlenberg, conducting "private hours" with the "awakened
souls," and finding particular delight in some souls who had been
awakened by Wesley. When Whitefield returned to Pennsylvania in 1702,
Dr. Wrangel entered into relations with him and began to conduct
prayer-meetings in a private house in the city, and when the room in
that house could no longer contain the people, Muhlenberg's congregation
granted him the use of their church. When not prevented by other duties,
Muhlenberg regularly attended these English devotional hours. The
congregational constitution of 1762 especially reserved for the pastor
the right to "conduct hours of edification, exhortation, and prayer in
churches and schools, on week-days or evenings, as necessity might
dictate, and as strength and circumstances might permit." (383. 425.
440. 485.) Dr. J. H. C. Helmuth was the first to report on a
revivalistic awakening in his congregation at Lancaster, in 1773. Later
on, 1811, Helmuth, in the name of the Pennsylvania Synod, wrote a
letter to Paul Henkel, then on his missionary tours in Ohio, warning
him not to participate in camp-meetings, "if he should come into contact
with similar aberrations from our Lutheran ways." But even at this time
Synod did not take a decided stand against revivalistic enthusiasm.
Already in the first decades of the nineteenth century reports, coming
out of the Synod, such as the following were heard: "Here the fire is
also burning." "Here we behold miracles of God's grace; everywhere we
find the wounded, the weeping, the moaning, and those who are praying.
Some cried out, 'My God, what shall I do that I may be saved?' Others
asked with tears, 'Can I still be saved?'" (549.) In 1810 the North
Carolina Synod resolved to have Philip Henkel try ou