nd final acquittal, are among the milestones of American
history and are a contribution to the story of New York of which
Americans of German descent may well be proud.

It was a large parish to which Falckner ministered. There were no Home
Mission Boards in those days. The New York pastor had therefore to care
for many outlying stations. His diocese included Hackensack, Raritan,
Ramapo and Constable Hook in the south, and Albany, Loonenburg and West
Camp in the north. After the death of Kocherthal he visited regularly,
not only the Dutch congregations of Claverack, Coxackie and Kinderhook,
but also such German settlements as East Camp, Rhinebeck, and Schoharie.

New York itself was not neglected during these missionary journeys.
Readers (Vorleezers) conducted the service while he was away. Such
notices as "There will be no church today, the minister is out of town,"
did not appear on his bulletin board.

The care of a parish 150 miles in length left but little time for
literary work, but in order that his people might be informed on the
subject of their church's faith as distinguished from that of their
Calvinistic neighbors, he wrote a book on the essential doctrines of
the Lutheran confession. It was published by William Bradford, New York,
1708.

He also wrote a hymn: _"Auf, ihr Christen, Christi Glieder,"_ which
after two centuries holds a place in German hymnals, and the translation
is to be found in some of the best collections of the English language.
To this day, therefore, the churches of London and Berlin alike respond
to Falckner's rallying call: "Rise, ye children of salvation."

[illustration: "Trinity Church, Broadway and Rector Street, (Southwest
Corner)"]

He must have been a pious man and a winning personality. The entries in
the book recording baptisms and other ministerial acts abound in
accompanying prayers for the spiritual welfare of those to whom he had
ministered.

For twenty years he served the churches of New York and the Hudson
Valley. When and where he died we know not. Early in 1723 he was in New
York and in Hackensack. In September of the same year there is a record
of a baptism at Phillipsburg (near Yonkers). And then no more. "He was
not, for God took him."

Falckner's successor, Berkenmeyer, a native of Lueneburg, arrived in
1725. He brought with him books for a church library and also funds for
a new building, contributed by friends in Germany, Denmark, and London.
The "old c