Henry Louis Baugher
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Henry Louis Baugher, (July 18, 1804-April 14, 1868) was a clergyman and academic. He was born in Abbotstown, Pennsylvania, in 1804 to Christian Frederic and Ann Baugher.
He graduated from Dickinson College in 1826, and went on to attend the Princeton Theological Seminary. He was licensed to preach by the Western Pennsylvania Synod of the Lutheran Church in 1828. He became the pastor of a church in Boonesboro, Maryland, in 1829, marrying Clara Brooks that same year. In 1830, he was placed in charge of the Boonesboro Classical School. In 1832, he was appointed professor of Greek and rhetoric at Pennsylvania College. He remained in that position through 1850, when he became president of the college. He continued to serve as the school's president until he died in 1868.
Rev. Henry Lewis Baugher, D.D. Dickinson College, Class of 1826
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[edit] Biography
The Reverend Henry Lewis Baugher, D.D., (1804-1868), a distinguished clergyman and educator, and the second President of Gettysburg College, graduated from Dickinson College in 1826.
Henry Lewis Baugher was born in Abbottstown, Adams County, Pennsylvania on July 19, 1804 to Christian Frederick and Ann Catharine Matter Baugher. His father was a tanner by trade and his paternal grandfather, John George Bager, was a pioneer German Lutheran pastor west of Pennsylvania’s Susquehanna River.2 As a youth, Henry was educated by the Reverend David McConaughty of Gettysburg.3
Baugher entered Dickinson College in 1822 and was admitted to the Belles Lettres Literary Society that same year.4 Little is known of Baugher’s time at Dickinson. In 1826, he is noted as the “Anniversarian” of the Belles Lettres Society, but it is unknown what this entailed.5 He graduated as part of the nineteen-member Class of 1826, of which only nine earned a diploma.6 At the commencement ceremony, Baugher, who received secondary honors, gave the Latin Salutatory Address.7
After graduating from Dickinson, Baugher made arrangements to study law with Francis Scott Key, famous for composing the National Anthem, in Georgetown, but after the death of his mother, changed course and entered the Princeton Theological Seminary in 1826.8 He studied there until 1828, when he transferred to the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg where he stayed for one year and was licensed to preach.9 In 1829, Baugher was sent to be a missionary in the Beaver Creek area of Maryland by the Maryland and Virginia Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church,10 where he became pastor of the Salem Lutheran and Reform Church (now Trinity Church),11 and three other congregations, in Boonsboro.12 There he founded a temperance society and a Sunday school, along with other works of what he called his “visionary labors.”13 Henry Baugher was married on October 29, 1829 to Clara (Clarissa) Mary Brooks by the Reverend George Duffield, pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Carlisle.14 He was ordained a Lutheran pastor in 1833 and served in either the Maryland or West Pennsylvania Synod for the rest of his life.15
In 1831, Baugher became a teacher of classical studies at the Gettysburg Gymnasium, which was then under the Seminary. The Gymnasium became Pennsylvania College (now Gettysburg College) in 1832 and he was selected as professor of Greek and the Belles Lettres,16 earning a salary of $500 a year, when the money was available.17 He served in this position for 18 years, and also served as the Secretary for the Faculty of the College.18 His brother, Isaac, became a College trustee in 1844 and gave the College its first bequest, in the amount of $500.19 In 1848, Henry Baugher received an honorary doctorate of divinity from his alma mater,20 an award to which he “attach[ed] little importance” but felt a sense of duty to see to it that Dickinson “may not be dishonored in her too much favorite son.”21 After College President Charles P. Krauth resigned his position in September 1850, the Board of Trustees unanimously voted Baugher the second president of Pennsylvania College22 and later decided to build a home for him and his family.23 After initially rejecting the position, he accepted and assumed his duties in October of the same year, not to relinquish them until his death in 1868.24
Baugher remained an active member of the faculty throughout his Presidency. He stopped teaching Greek in 1850 in favor of a professorship in Mental and Moral Science.25 Baugher continued to practice as a minister while President of the College. He wanted to inculcate Christian principles into all of his students26 and did this through his preaching, which was noted for its preparation and eloquence. Baugher was recognized by most as the “most effective preacher in Gettysburg.”27 All Gettysburg students and faculty attended Christ’s Evangelical Lutheran Church, where Baugher was pastor from the time of his arrival in Gettysburg.28 Baugher attempted to resign but was persuaded to continue in 1861, 1862, 1863, and again in 1865, before finally being relieved of duty in August of 1866 “with the sincere thanks of the congregation.”29 He wrote articles for Lutheran theological journals, mainly discussing early Protestant theologians, but he published little.30 He was also an ardent supporter of a local temperance movement in Gettysburg.31
Baugher’s presidency was noted by his stern disciplinary practices and high standards. According to E.S. Breidenbaugh, because Baugher believed “that reverence for superiors, submission to authority, and obedience to the rules and regulations of the College were indispensable to the formation of a good character, he inculcated and enforced the duty of loyalty both by counsel and authority . . . [and] he was proficient in detecting those guilty of misdemeanors and violations of the college laws.”32 However, according to Samuel Gring Hefelbower, Baugher’s severity was “tempered with Christian love.”33
The Civil War came to Gettysburg in the summer of 1863. Half of the student body, some 61 men in all who were students or recent graduates, joined the militia after Lee’s army invaded Pennsylvania in June.34 After signing the muster rolls the students returned to the College to inform Baugher. One of these students, E.W. Meisenhelder recalled that Baugher spoke to them to try to dissuade them from joining the military and encourage them to remain in school. Meisenhelder said that in Baugher’s “paternal capacity” he had no choice but to attempt to stop them, but his loyalty and patriotism was “unquestioned and unquestionable.”35 Baugher had just lost his son, Nesbit, a year earlier. He died in May of 1862 of wounds received at the Battle of Shiloh the previous month.36 For those students who remained on campus classes remained as normal. Classes were in session on the morning of July 1, until Union soldiers entered the College building to make use of its cupola and Baugher dismissed classes. The Confederates took the College buildings that evening, put all of the College possessions in Baugher’s office, and used the remainder of the building as a hospital.37 Baugher said the building was filled with “the voice of prayer, the cry of the wounded, and the groans of the dying.”38 He, along with his family, remained in his home throughout the Battle and attended to eighteen wounded Union soldiers and successfully hid a Union officer.39 Shortly after the Battle, Baugher opened his home and ate dinner with a former student, James Crocker, a Confederate officer and Union prisoner of war. Crocker wrote the story of this event, saying that, despite Baugher’s ardent support of the Union, he was, towards him, “of the stuff of which martyrs are made” (Crocker’s entire story can be found on the Anecdotes Page).40 The commencement, scheduled for August, was canceled as a result of the Battle.41 On November 19, 1863, Henry Baugher gave the benediction at the ceremony opening the National Soldiers’ Cemetery at Gettysburg; speaking after Abraham Lincoln’s now-famous Gettysburg Address (the original benediction can be found on Baugher’s Writings Page).42
Henry Lewis Baugher died on April 14, 1868, just shy of his 64th birthday. He had been suffering from an unknown disease for several years, caught a cold, and died ten days later. He is buried in the Evergreen Cemetery in Gettysburg, along with his wife. The couple had seven children, five of whom survived him.43 Henry Lewis Baugher, Jr., his most noteworthy child, was a Gettysburg College graduate and professor, a minister, and was president of the General Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of the United States from 1895 to 1897.44 Upon his death, Henry Lewis Baugher, Sr. gave all of his earthly possessions to his wife Clara,45 who upon her death in 1872 gave the substantial sum of over $11,000 to her children.46 In his obituary on the day following his death, The Star and Sentinel of Gettysburg reported that, “after a well spent life of active, earnest usefulness, [Baugher] has gone to meet the Savior he so dearly loved, on whom he so lovingly leaned in sickness and health, and whose cause he so earnestly pleaded from day to day, in chapel and pulpit, in the social circle, and in private life, during a period of nearly 40 years.”47
[edit] Judge James F. Crocker Story
I must ask indulgence to mention another incident. I met on the college campus a son of Prof. Baugher, who was then president of the college, and who was president when I graduated. The son gave me such a cordial invitation to dine with him and his father that I accepted it. They were all very courteous; but I fancied I detected a reserved dignity in old Dr. Baugher. It was very natural for him to be so, and I appreciated it. The old Doctor, while kindhearted, was of a very positive and radical character, which he evinced on all subjects. He was thoroughly conscientious, and was of the stuff of which martyrs are made. He was thoroughly orthodox in his Lutheran faith; and in politics, without ever hearing a word from him, I venture to say he was in sympathy with, I will not say, Thaddeus Stevens, but with Garrison and Phillips. My knowledge of him left me no need to be told that his views and feelings involved in the war were intense. And there he was, breaking bread with a red handed rebel in his gray uniform, giving aid and comfort to the enemy. Was he not put to it to keep mastery of himself?
Happy for man that he is double sighted; that there is within him a quality allied to conscience, – call it charity – that enables him to choose on which side to look. The venerable Doctor saw before him only his old student, recalled only the old days, and their dear memories. If there was anything between his heart and his country’s laws, there was nothing between his heart and his Saviour’s sweet charity.
And here I must relate an incident of those old days not wholly irrelevant and inopportune. I graduated in 1850. I had the honor to be the valedictorian of my class. In preparing my address I took notice of the great excitement then prevailing on account of the discussion in Congress of the bill to admit California as a State into the Union. Great sectional feeling was aroused through this long protracted discussion in the Senate. One senator dared use the word “disunion” with a threat. The very word sent a thrill of horror over the land. I recall my own feeling of horror. In my address to my classmates I alluded to this sectional feeling, deprecating it, and exclaimed, “Who knows, unless patriotism should triumph over sectional feeling but what we, classmates, might in some future day meet in hostile battle array."
Dr. Baugher, as president of the college, had revision of our graduating speeches, and he struck this part out of my address. But alas! it was a prophetic conjecture; and members of our class met in after years, not only in battle array, but on the fields over which, in teaching botany, Prof. Jacobs had led us in our study of the wild flowers that adorned those field.
From Judge James F. Crocker's Gettysburg – Pickett’s Charge and Other War Addresses, (Portsmouth, VA: W.A. Fiske, Printer and Bookbinder, 1915), 56-8.
[edit] Henry Lewis (Louis) Baugher Writings
Benediction Delivered at the Gettysburg National Cemetery, November 19, 1863 O Thou King of kings and Lord of lords, God of the nations of the earth, who by Thy kind providence has permitted us to engage in these solemn services, grant us Thy blessing. Bless this consecrated ground, and these holy graves. Bless the President of these United States, and his Cabinet. Bless the Governors and the representatives of the States here assembled with all needed grace to conduct the affairs committed into their hands, to the glory of Thy name, and the greatest good of the people. May this great nation be delivered from treason and rebellion at home, and from the power of enemies abroad. And now may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God our Heavenly Father, and the fellowship of the Holy Ghost, be with you all. Amen.
From Frank L. Klement's The Gettysburg Soldiers' Cemetery and Lincoln's Address: Aspects and Angles, (Shippensburg, PA: White Mane Publishing Company, Inc., 1993), 243.
An excerpt from The Christian Patriot: A Discourse Addressed to the Graduating Class of Pennsylvania College, September 15 1861
Rom. 13: 1-7
"Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be, are ordained of God. Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God: and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation, For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power? do (sic) that which is good and thou shalt have praise of the same. For he is the minister of God to thee for good. But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid; for he beareth not the sword in vain: for he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil. Wherefore ye must needs be subject, not only for wrath, but also for conscience' sake. For, for this cause pay ye tribute also: for they are God's ministers, attending continually upon this very thing. Render therefore to all their dues: tribute to whom tribute is due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honor to whom honor."
The existence of a country and a government is distinctly recognized in the Scriptures under consideration. This government, and all the power to administer it are referred to God, as their author: "There is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained by God." Resistance to this power, therefore, is resistance to God, and as such will be punished. The design of government is to promote the highest good of the governed. "He is the minister of God to thee for good. For rulers are not a terror to good works but to evil." The reason of this position is found in the fact, that without government, there would be anarchy, or the isolation of the individual, and in either contingency, society would be destroyed. For in the one case, there would be no protection of property or of life, and therefore there could be no progress, but degeneracy to utter extinction: and in the other, there could be no step made beyond the individual, and with him the race would perish. The sacrifice therefore, which are demanded of the subject, such as taxes, personal labor and suffering, and whatever else is necessary for the continuance and well-being of the government, are required for the best interests of the subjects, as they also directly promote the glory of God.
Obedience is enjoined for two reasons, for wrath and for conscience' sake - the one having respect to God, and the other to the government. The violator of law will be punished, because he sins against God, and is injuring the best interests of the people. He is employing his powers, of whatever kind, in pulling down and destroying what God and the people have built up. If there be a combination to resist, or to overthrow the government without adequate reasons, and it be successful, God will punish the rebellious in his own time and way, as he punished his own people Israel and Judah, and the nations that oppressed them.
We reach the same conclusions, by considering the teachings of Natural Religion. God has made man social. Society therefore is necessary, both to his happiness and his very existence. Government is the instrument by which this society perpetuates itself, and carries forward the purposes of God in reference to man. The form of government is accidental and not necessary. It may be monarchical, or republican, or mixed. It may change with the improvement of man and the development of the resources of the country. Thus the government of the children of Israel passed from a Theocracy to a Monarchy, and the English government from an absolute to a limited monarchy, and our own government from the government of the States to the government of the people. The Constitution contains the principles of the government, and the laws are based upon, and are the exponents of the Constitution. The majority rules, because, where all are equal in rights it is absurd to suppose, that the rights of the few are of greater value than the rights of the many. For the minority therefore to claim the right to withdraw from the majority, to take of the common fund, and to appropriate the common treasury, whatever it may conveniently seize, whether it be money or munitions of war, forts, ships, or territory, is a case of robbery and theft, as well as of rebellion, punishable with the highest penalties of law. The majority therefore, adopts the Constitution, and when necessary, alters it, in accordance with its own provisions.
Whilst the majority this rules, it must be in accordance with the Constitution, giving to the minority equal rights with themselves; and the minority have a right to demand that the provisions of the Constitution be rigidly observed, both in the enactment and the enforcement of the laws. All are born under the Constitution, or come in from without, with equal rights, according to the fundamental law of reciprocity. No other account can be given of the origin of the law of reciprocity, except the will of God, as expressed in the constitution of our nature, and his blessed word. This law is expressed in the following terms, and commends itself to all people, and in all countries as divine: "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." "All things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them." Society therefore, has a right, derived from God, to perpetuate itself, and to employ all such means as are in accordance with the law or reciprocity for the attainment of this end. For the same reason society possesses the right to use all necessary measures to ward off the evils which endanger its existence or healthy action. For, if it be the will of God that society should exist, as it has been clearly shown, then also is it his will that it should continue and prosper. Hence is derived the right of society to punish violators of law, who are violators of the law of reciprocity. Hence the right to fine, imprison, confiscate property, and take away life itself. When therefore the violators of law are many, and combine their powers in armed rebellion against the government, and threaten its destruction, it is clearly right, and the will of God, and the highest duty for the government to employ all its resources to subdue the rebellion, and to punish the rebels. For without government there can be no society and no happiness. If rebellion be successful, the government thus formed must pursue the same course in order to secure its existence. The changes therefore, which are the legitimate fruits of rebellion generally, are productive of no good but rather of increased evils. Thus teach reason and religion. Thus did God teach his ancient people. They were all people the most tenaciously attached to their country and their government. This is shown in their captivity and their restoration, in the rule of the Maccabees, in the time of Christ, and to this day. Their language was and is now, "If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning. If I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth. If I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy."
Now, this love of country thus expressed, is the feeling, and the acting out of it is the manifestation of Patriotism. I have presented in a few words the fundamental principles of civil society and government, as taught by natural and revealed religion, for the purpose of showing what is the will of God on this subject, and to make it evident that Christian patriotism has its foundation deeply laid in the nature of man, and in the word of God. We direct your attention therefore, as a closing exercise of the session, to Christian Patriotism.
We have a country given, and secured to us until now, by a munificent Providence. In the settlement of no country in modern times has the hand of God been more clearly seen. It was an asylum for the oppressed of all nations, from civil and religious persecution. The oppressed of all lands rejoiced in the intelligence, that a new continent was discovered, and a new country, where the people wearied and harassed by injustice, could find rest. We have a government the most mild and equitable in the world, based upon the law of reciprocity, having the equality of rights distinctly stated in the declarative act, and recognized in the different articles of the Constitution. Its laws have grown out of the Constitution, and are conformed, as nearly as human imperfection will permit, to its equitable principles. Until this year, from her establishment as a nation, her career has been one of unexampled growth and prosperity. In her agricultural products, in inventive genius and the application of the laws of nature to the useful arts, in her mineral productions, and her commerce, external and internal, she stood alone among the nations of the earth. Her name was a passport, and her flag a protection throughout the civilized world. The nations of the earth looked upon her with admiration, for here was exhibited the spectacle, never before witnessed, of a people without a standing army, or a floating navy, by the force of public sentiment, governing themselves; and as they beheld, the down-trodden millions longed, with a desire inexpressible to share in her blessedness. We have a country and a government to love and to rejoice in, not as the creation of our own genius, or the production of our own industry, but the gift and kind providence of a gracious God. Such a country and such a government are worthy of the affections and the services of those who enjoy their benefits. Our Patriotism then will be manifested in laboring in this country and government to promote, in the highest degree, the great end of society; to devote to this object the energies of our minds and bodies; to suffer as well as to do, and if need be, to die. In so doing, we are pursuing a course, as clearly ascertained as can be, in accordance with the will of God. Because, we are thus seeking to promote his glory and the greatest good of the people. We are maintaining unobstructed the word and the worship of God, the separation of Church and State, civil and religious liberty, the sanctity of the Sabbath, the equality of the rights of all, without respect of persons, under the Constitution. In a word, we are laboring to secure a state of society, in which God will be honored by society, and the individual in his rights social, civil and religious, will be protected as completely as our imperfect nature will permit. This I call Christian Patriotism. How may we best promote this most desirable end?
1. The Christian patriot must be governed by Christian principles. The fundamental principle of society, as constituted by God, is the great law of Reciprocity, “All things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them.” The word of God therefore, is fundamental to Christian patriotism. It is sufficient to put a man out of the category of this patriotism, that he rejects the word of God as a rule of action, and establishes one of his own. If we believe in a Creator and Judge of the Universe, who is perfect, and from whom all human excellency has been derived, and by whom nations as well as individuals are controlled, then we are bound by reason and common sense to receive the teachings of his word as infallible. If we reject the authority of his word, then have we no guide to direct us out of the difficulties which everywhere encompass our path. Nations ancient and modern have prospered, just in proportion as they were governed by this word. Heathen nations have perished because they refused to receive the knowledge of God, and professedly Christian nations have been oppressed and have suffered from grievous wars, because they have departed from the great principles of God’s word. Thus God’s ancient people, whenever and so long as they served him, prospered. When they forsook him and served graven images, they were conquered by their enemies and carried into captivity. The Christian nations of Europe, because they rejected God’s word as a guide, and, trusting in an arm of flesh, gave themselves up to the guidance of mad ambition and the lust of conquest, have been embroiled in constant wars, and as a consequence, have been demoralized, and oppressed with burdensome taxes. Our own beloved country is a sufferer from the same cause. It would not be difficult to show that the evils, under which we are now suffering, are the legitimate fruits of the neglect of Christian principles, in the conduct both of the people and their rulers. If we were permitted to refer to particular cases, we would point to the rancor of political parties, proscription from office, the false representation of our newspapers, the corruption in public office, and the difficulty, if not the impossibility, of electing men of established Christian character to important offices in the government. These facts indicate the low state of spirituality among us as a people, and the little respect which is paid to the word of God, in the administration of the government and in the general conduct of the people, and in their political relations to each other. Perhaps a stronger fact than any which has been stated, and one unparalleled in the history of nations, is the course pursued by several heads of departments and members of congress, in the beginning of this year, who were sworn to support the Constitution and the government, in deliberately employing the great power, put into their hands for the welfare of the government, for the purpose of subverting it, abstracting funds from the public treasury, removing ships, troops, and munitions of war, and seeking, and successfully too, to seduce officers high and low in the army and the navy from their allegiance to the government, and all this whilst sustained and liberally paid by the government which they were seeking to destroy. If there is anything which can yet more clearly indicate the low degree of spirituality and neglect of the word of God which we have reached, it is that professedly good men, ministers of the Gospel, and men in all the walks of life, all over this land, justify this course, and pronounce it right. I know not how such sentiments can be entertained, much less expressed, for they seem to me to indicate a most impudent mockery of justice, and of all the rights which men hold dear in society, and at variance with all that reason, or nature, or revelation teaches to be just and right.
2. The Christian patriot must exercise self-government. This enables him to bear patiently whatever self-denial and sacrifice he is summoned to endure for his country, assured that he is in it honoring God, and benefiting man. This is the beginning of obedience in the family, the Church and the State. He, who is incapable of governing himself has no power of judging impartially, and is an unsafe depository of an important trust. He is subject to the control of inordinate passions, or is liable to be influenced by prejudice or prepossession, and therefore, is incapable of discharging aright the duties of a Christian citizen. As he is unreliable in judging, for the same reason, he is unsafe in ruling. He, who cannot rule himself, possesses no power by which he can rule his neighbor. Men of this sort, professed patriots and loud in their expression of attachment to their country, are they, who are partisans in politics, bigots in religion, and enthusiasts in any enterprise in which self may be exalted. From this class come those who, as children and pupils, are disobedient, as citizens riotous, as soldiers insubordinate, and as officers traitors. The foundation of all excellency in action, intellectual and physical, is laid in self-control: In which the passions and desires and hushed, and the intellect, undisturbed in the silence and solitude of thought, pursues her way and reaches the desired conclusion, and from which the active powers proceeding, under the direction of the will, accomplish the purposed end. Only under self-control is a man capable of bringing forth, and of directing aright the powers which are in him; and he, though mighty in his natural and acquired powers, if uncontrolled, is but a pigmy, when brought into conflict with a feeble man self-controlled. Thus the successful leaders of Senates and assemblies, of armies and navies, the men who have led the councils of their country to glorious issues, and their armies from victory to victory, controlled others, because they controlled themselves.
3. The Christian patriot submits to all lawfully constituted authorities. For this he has been prepared, however unpleasant it may be, by self-government. He examines into the manner in which authority is constituted. He will not submit to irresponsible or self-constituted authority. Because the government of which he forms a part is based upon the constitution and laws derived from the great law of reciprocity. The most successful mode of subverting all law, and order is to override the ordinary forms of administering justice, by brute force. This is the refuge of unprincipled men and designing demagogues. The history of nations is replete with illustrations of men of this sort both successful and unsuccessful. In the one case they become heroes, as Caesar, and in the other rebels and traitors, as Cataline. Yet, in both, unprincipled ambition ruled aided by brute force, whilst law and order were trampled under foot. – There are but two modes of government. Either the people must rule themselves, or be ruled by others. All governments, whatever names they bear, are included in these two classes. The rule of the people, called democratic, republican, or constitutional, or limited monarchy, is based upon a constitution, which is the choice of the people, and upon laws made by them in accordance with the constitution. The other is an autocracy or absolute monarchy, or oligarchy, in which the will of the people, the many, is not recognized. In which there are no fixed principles but two, and these are, to increase and maintain the powers in existence, and to obtain from the people the means of securing this end. When people, through ignorance or vice, are incapable of self-government, the dominion of the few becomes a moral necessity. But where intelligence and virtue exist among the people, they must rule. This we presume is the condition of things among us, and the events now in progress will ere long determine whether or not we are capable of self-government. Our government is pre-eminently a government of law. All authority is derived from laws, not from titles, or office, or position. We have no throne, or nobility, to fall back upon, no dynasty stretching back into the untraceable past, and therefore, when the Constitution and the laws are no more respected and have lost all their force, we must necessarily fall back into a state of anarchy. The only expression of the views of the people must be by the voices of the whole, or a majority of them. When unanimity can not be secured, as it never or seldom can, then the majority must decide. Now this principle cannot be changed by insurrection, or rebellion, or revolution. The character of the majority may be changed, but the principle of the authority of the majority cannot be changed, so long as the government is that of the people. If a minority rebel against the majority and refuse to recognize their authority, and such a position can be maintained, then the government is at an end. Might gives right. Justice is stricken down by the strong arm of the conqueror, and the way is opened for the violation and ultimate destruction of all personal, social, civil and religious rights. The idea of right and justice is driven from the vocabulary of thought, and might usurps its place and with it oppression, cruelty, robbery, theft and murder. Oh, it is dreadful to think of a government such as ours has been – so mild and gentle in its sway, that we felt it only as the restraint and guardianship of an affectionate mother; and so potent in its influence, that our sleep was never disturbed by the fear of our enemy; and so beneficent in all its enactments that the individual was enabled to develop all his energies of whatever kind, in his own way and undisturbed, only so that he did not infringe upon the rights of others – that this government should be assailed by her own children, her plains covered with blood, her towns burned, her households made desolate and hers sons slain for the purpose of establishing the dominion of the few upon the ruins of the many. Now the true Christian patriot will submit to the authority of the laws and will maintain it at any hazard or any sacrifice. This he will do, not only because he loves his country above every other but because his own welfare and existence are at stake. For, with the loss of his country, he loses all he holds dear on earth. What is a man without a country, without civil and social rights? In what does he differ from the slave, unless it be that his bone and sinews and muscles are not under the control of a master, and his limbs are not restrained by chains. In all that dignifies man, in his relations to government, in his social position, he has no rights, for he has no country. He is an exile and an alien, dependent upon the charity of others . . .
. . . I have spoken thus far especially of the manifestation of patriotism, under the impulse of duty. The feeling itself is one of the noblest which animates the human soul. It is a mingled feeling of reverence and confidence and joy. It is love for the sky above us, so varied, and so beautiful; the sun which shines upon us by day, and the stars which march forth silently in their trains by night; they are our sun and stars. It is love for the trees and woods, the meadows and fields, the mountains and rivers, and streams and fountains of waters, the vast prairies, the inland seas. It is love for our government, our Constitution and laws, our freedom of speech and writing and worship and business. It is love for our Institutions, literary, theological, benevolent, social and Christian. It is love for our people, the exiles of all nations, for the sake of the great principles of civil and religious liberty, and their children, and love for our flag, the stripes and the stars which eighty years has waved over a united and happy people. It is love for the memories of the past, the history of the struggles and the independence of the people, which, though brief, is pregnant with some of the most illustrious deeds and important events that dignify and ennoble the history of our race. We love all these, because they are the gift of God to us. We prize and cherish them, because here, as a nation and a government, we are summoned to work out the will of God concerning us. It is expressly the sentiment, "Our country right or wrong;" if wrong, we will rectify, and if right, we will maintain the right at any sacrifice. It is an abiding affection, which wastes not by effort and wanes not by age, but which burns more brightly with the continually recurring evidences of the blessings which God is bestowing upon us here. My young friends, my desire is that patriotism such as this may burn in your bosoms with a quenchless flame. Cultivate love of country. It is a noble virtue. Let it be imbued with the spirit of the Gospel. Compare the government and institutions of this country with those of every other, and mark this favors which a gracious God has bestowed upon us, and then consider how you ought to prize them. Here the people rule, but an ignorant and a godless people will rule only to plunge themselves into ruin. Cultivate then the patriotism which Christianity inspires, which is the loftiest known to man. Let the love of country by fragrant with the love of God. That you may become such, the word of God must be your guide. Let its precepts daily come into your souls and dwell there. They will be the seeds of spiritual life, which will grow up into fruit productive of glory to God and good to man. - Remember that the beginning of patriotism is exhibited in the family, in implicit and reverent obedience to parents, and, in the school and college, in respectful submission to the authorities and the laws. No young man who is disobedient to his parents and disrespectful to his teachers and others can become a Christian patriot, until his whole nature is renewed. For obedience is the fundamental condition of patriotism, as it is of all personal and social excellency. When submission to God, as the Supreme Sovereign, and to his word, as the only infallible rule of right has been secured, then all else will become easy. The principle of obedience is there, and it will carry the soul right forward into all proper submission, and on all occasions. Then there will have commenced in the soul a subjugation of selfishness in all its forms, and of refractory passions and habits, which is only the beginning of the liberty wherewith Christ makes men free. It will continue by the grace of God until body, soul, and spirit shall be completely subdued, and Christ shall be all in all. Then will begin a new career for the soul, in which it will be found that self-denial, sacrifice and suffering for our God, our country and our fellowmen is the highest enjoyment; and the most perfect liberty is subjection in all things to the will of God. May you, my young friends, and this congregation, and this whole nation, be made partakers of this enjoyment and of this highest liberty.
Subjection to law: The constitution of man's nature ; a discourse to the graduating class of Pennsylvania college ; Gettysburg, September 16th, 1852 by Henry Louis Baugher (Unknown Binding - 1852)
Redeeming the time: A discourse delivered to the graduating class of Pennsylvania College, September 12, 1858 by Henry Louis Baugher (Unknown Binding - 1858)
The Christian Patriot: A Discourse Addressed to the Graduating Class of Pennsylvania College, September 15, 1861, (Gettysburg, PA: A.D. Buehler and H.C. Neinstedt, 1861).
A conscience without offence: A discourse addressed to the graduating class of Pennsylvania College, August 10, 1862 by Henry Louis Baugher (Unknown Binding - 1862)
True greatness: A discourse addressed to the graduating class of Pennsylvania College, August 6th, 1865 by Henry Louis Baugher (Unknown Binding - 1865)
[edit] References
- Who Was Who in America, Historical Volume, 1607-1896. Chicago: Marquis Who's Who, 1963.
Alexander Lawrence Stout (Dickinson College) http://users.dickinson.edu/~stouta/hlbaugher.htm
[edit] Bibliography
[edit] Primary Sources
Baugher, Clara M. “Personal Last Will and Testament.” August 13, 1872. Adams County Historical Society, Gettysburg, PA.
Baugher, Henry Lewis. The Christian Patriot: A Discourse Addressed to the Graduating Class of Pennsylvania College, September 15, 1861. Gettysburg, PA: A.D. Buehler and H.C. Neinstedt, 1861.
-. “Letter to Charles Francis Himes.” Personal letter, August 1, 1861. Dickinson College Archives and Special Collections.
-. “Letter to William H. Allen, Esq.” Personal letter, July 19, 1848. Baugher Family Records, Manuscript Collect 034, Gettysburg College Archives and Special Collections, Musselman Library.
-. “Letter to Parents of Gettysburg College Students During Varioloid Outbreak.” June 11 1861. Baugher Family Records, Manuscript Collect 034, Gettysburg College Archives and Special Collections, Musselman Library.
-. “Personal Last Will and Testament.” May 27, 1868. Adams County Historical Society, Gettysburg, PA.
Brough, Doris. Interviewed by the researcher. Aspers, PA. February 18, 2004.
“Commencement of Dickinson College, Order of Exercises.” September 27, 1826. Gettysburg College Archives and Special Collections, Musselman Library.
“Death Record for Nesbit Baugher.” Baugher Family Records, Manuscript Collect 034, Gettysburg College Archives and Special Collections, Musselman Library.
“Dickinson College Belles Lettres Society Membership Catalog.” Dickinson College Archives and Special Collections.
Klement, Frank L. The Gettysburg Soldiers’ Cemetery and Lincoln’s Address: Aspects and Angles. Shippensburg, PA: White Mane Publishing Company, Inc., 1993.
“Minutes Faculty Gettysburg College, 1832-1840.” Gettysburg College Archives and Special Collections, Musselman Library.
“Minutes of the Evangelical Lutheran Synod of Maryland and Virginia for 1829.” Williamsport, October 17, 1829. Archives of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America, Region 8, Gettysburg, PA.
“Minutes of the Evangelical Lutheran Synod of Maryland for 1830.” Taneytown, MD, October 16, 1830. Archives of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America, Region 8, Gettysburg, PA.
“Portraits of Henry. L. Baugher.” Gettysburg College Archives and Special Collections, Musselman Library.
[edit] Secondary Sources
“Baugher, Henry Lewis.” American National Biography. Vol. 2. Edited by John A. Garraty and Mark C. Carnes. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999.
“Baugher, Henry Lewis.” Dictionary of American Biography. Vol. 1, Abbe to Barrymore. Edited by Allen Johnson. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1946.
Breidenbaugh, E.S., ed. The Pennsylvania College Book, 1832-1882. Philadelphia: Lutheran Publication Society, 1882.
Carmichael, Orton H. Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address. New York: The Abingdon Press, 1917.
Crocker, James F. Gettysburg – Pickett’s Charge and Other War Addresses. Portsmouth, VA: W.A. Fiske, Printer and Bookbinder, 1915.
Encyclopedia Dickinsonia. “Dickinson College Alumni, 1826-1850,” Dickinson College, http://chronicles.dickinson.edu/encyclo/a/alumni/alumni3.html.
Encyclopedia Dickinsonia. “Honorary Degree Recipients Index.” Dickinson College. http://chronicles.dickinson.edu/encyclo/h/honorarydegrees/index.html
Fortenbaugh, Robert. A History of Christ’s Evangelical Lutheran Congregation of Gettysburg 1836-1936. Gettysburg PA: 1936.
Glatfelter, Charles H. A Salutary Influence: Gettysburg College, 1832-1985. Vol. 1. Gettysburg, PA: Gettysburg College, 1987.
Hefelbower, Samuel Gring. The History of Gettysburg College, 1832-1932. Gettysburg, PA: Gettysburg College, 1932.
Landrey, Gregory J. A History of the Gettysburg College Campus. Gettysburg College Archives and Special Collections, Musselman Library. 1977.
Reed, George Leffingwell, ed. Alumni Record: Dickinson College. Carlisle, PA: Dickinson College, 1905.
The Star and Sentinel, 1868.
“Today in History,” The Lutheran Church, Missouri Synod, 2003, http://chi.lcms.org/history/tih0211.htm.
Virtualology. “Henry L. Baugher.” Virtual American Biographies. http://virtualology.com/aphenrylbaugher/ (accessed February 1, 2004).
Wentz, Abdel Ross. Centennial History of the Evangelical Lutheran Synod of Maryland, 1820-1920. Harrisburg, PA: Evangelical Press, 1920.
Wills, Garry. Lincoln at Gettysburg: The Words That Remade America. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1992.
[edit] Endnotes
All sources, excepting one, use the July 19th date. The Dictionary of American Biography gives the date of his birth as July 18, 1804. “Henry Lewis Baugher,” American National Biography, Vol. 2, Edited by John A. Garraty and Mark C. Carnes, (New York: Oxford University Press, 1999), 351. “Henry Lewis Baugher,” American National Biography, Vol. 2, Edited by John A. Garraty and Mark C. Carnes, (New York: Oxford University Press, 1999), 59. “Dickinson College Belles Lettres Society Membership Catalog.” Dickinson College Archives and Special Collections. Ibid. Encyclopedia Dickinsonia. “Dickinson College Alumni, 1826-1850,” Dickinson College, http://chronicles.dickinson.edu/encyclo/a/alumni/alumni3.html. “Commencement of Dickinson College, Order of Exercises.” September 27, 1826. Gettysburg College Archives and Special Collections, Musselman Library. E.S. Breidenbaugh, ed, The Pennsylvania College Book, 1832-1882, (Philadelphia: Lutheran Publication Society, 1882), 150. American National Biography. “Minutes of the Evangelical Lutheran Synod of Maryland and Virginia for 1829,” Williamsport, October 17, 1829, Archives of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America, Region 8, Gettysburg, PA. Abdel Ross Wentz. Centennial History of the Evangelical Lutheran Synod of Maryland, 1820-1920, (Harrisburg, PA: Evangelical Press, 1920), 437. American National Biography. “Minutes of the Evangelical Lutheran Synod of Maryland for 1830,” Taneytown, MD, October 16, 1830, Archives of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America, Region 8, Gettysburg, PA. Breidenbaugh 150. American National Biography. Ibid. Charles H. Glatfelter, A Salutary Influence: Gettysburg College, 1832-1985. Vol. 1. (Gettysburg, PA: Gettysburg College, 1987), 82. “Minutes Faculty Gettysburg College, 1832-1840.” Gettysburg College Archives and Special Collections, Musselman Library. Glatfelter 84. Encyclopedia Dickinsonia. “Honorary Degree Recipients Index.” Dickinson College. http://chronicles.dickinson.edu/encyclo/h/honorarydegrees/index.html “Letter to William H. Allen, Esq.” Personal letter, July 19, 1848. Baugher Family Records, Manuscript Collect 034, Gettysburg College Archives and Special Collections, Musselman Library. Ibid 97-9. Gregory J. Landrey, A History of the Gettysburg College Campus. Gettysburg College Archives and Special Collections, Musselman Library. 1977. Ibid 97-9. Ibid 99. Breidenbaugh 151. Ibid 151-2. Robert Fortenbaugh, A History of Christ’s Evangelical Lutheran Congregation of Gettysburg 1836-1936. (Gettysburg PA: 1936), 29-31. Ibid 31. Ibid 152-3. Glatfelter 171. Breidenbaugh 150. Hefelbower 138. Ibid 184-5. Ibid 185-6. Glatfelter 184-5. Samuel Gring Hefelbower, The History of Gettysburg College, 1832-1932. (Gettysburg, PA: Gettysburg College, 1932), 216. Glatfelter 185. James F. Crocker, Gettysburg – Pickett’s Charge and Other War Addresses, (Portsmouth, VA: W.A. Fiske, Printer and Bookbinder, 1915), 56. Hefelbower 216. Orton H. Carmichael, Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address, (New York: The Abingdon Press, 1917) 72. American National Biography. “Today in History,” The Lutheran Church, Missouri Synod, 2003, http://chi.lcms.org/history/tih0211.htm. Henry Lewis Baugher, “Personal Last Will and Testament,” May 27, 1868, Adams County Historical Society, Gettysburg, PA. Clara B. Baugher, “Personal Last Will and Testament,” May 27, 1868, Adams County Historical Society, Gettysburg, PA. Gettysburg Star and Sentinel, April 15, 1868.
[edit] Research Notes
Stout's research into Henry L. Baugher began at the Dickinson College Archives and Special Collections, which yielded him basic information from his alumni record, two biographies from biographical dictionaries, and a letter written by Baugher to fellow Dickinson alum Charles Francis Himes. Although the letter was not of particular note, it was a nice read. Stout next did what little research Stout could on the internet, because there is very little directly available regarding Dr. Baugher. The most important book sources are The Pennsylvania College Book, The History of Gettysburg College, and A Salutary Influence. All of these contain biographies of Dr. Baugher as well as significant information about his presidency. One of Stout's next steps was a bit of a longshot, but Stout began calling Baughers Stout found in the phonebook who currently live in or near Gettysburg. This led to several descendents of Dr. Baugher's, including Mrs. Doris Brough, whom Stout interviewed at her home. Although she did not have anything new to give Stout, she did validate much of what Stout had already discovered and it was an interesting experience. By far the best source is the Gettysburg College Archives and Special Collections, which has many of Baugher's original writings, original photographs, family records, and College records pertaining to his presidency. This is where Stout was able to find Baugher's benediction from the Gettysburg Address and many stories about him. What is more, the "White House" in which he lived is still standing and in use by the College. Also in Gettysburg is the Adams County Historical Society, housed at the Lutheran Seminary in Gettysburg. The Society has his will, his wife's will, and several other family documents, as well as the history of his parish in Gettysburg. Stout also did research, over the phone, at the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America's Region 8 Archives, which has the best record of Baugher's religious career. Stout also attempted to contact the Princeton Theological Seminary, however Stout had difficulty reaching their archivist. It is possible that the Dickinson Archives may have more information about his career within the general College records, however the staff had no other sources in their indexes.
[edit] Obituary
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This article reads like an obituary. Wikipedia is not a memorial site and articles should have a neutral point of view. Please consider reworking this article to help achieve a neutral point of view, or discuss changes on the talk page.(April 2008) |
DEATH OF REV. DR. BAUGHER - We have the melancholy duty of announcing the death of Rev. Henry L. Baugher, D.D., President of Pa. College, which took place last evening about 7 o'clock. Dr. B. suffered severely from acute disease for several years, under which, with the arduous executive duties incident to his profession, his system had been much broken; but being of buoyant spirits few other than his most intimate friends knew how much he suffered. About ten days ago he took a severe cold which settled in his throat and breast, but without specifically alarming symptoms until Monday evening, when serious apprehensions began to be entertained. The disease made rapid progress, terminating in death last evening.
Dr. Baugher had been connected with Pa. College since its organization in 1832, first as Professor of Greek and Belles Lettres, and subsequently as President, succeeding the late Dr. C.P. Krauth, and the College is largely indebted to him for its present commanding position as an educational institution. His death occasions loss which it will be difficult to supply.
Dr. Baugher was not only an accomplished scholar and successful educator, but more - he was a Christian gentleman. Eminently social, genial in manner, gifted with unusual conversational powers, all adorned with the graces of an earnest, active Christian faith and life - he commanded the confidence, and won the love and esteem, of a large circle of devoted friends. Dr. B. possessed pulpit abilities of a high order - and for many tears commanded a marked influence on the Lutheran Church, ranking as one of its ablest divines. His religious faith was an earnest one, exemplified by a life of devotion to his Master's service, and adorned by all good works.
After a well spent life of active, earnest usefulness, he has gone to meet the Savior he so dearly loved, on whom he so lovingly leaned in sickness and health, and whose cause he so earnestly pleaded from day to day, in chapel and pulpit, in the social circle, and in private life, during a period of nearly 40 years. He died in the 64th year of his age.
The funeral services will take place on Friday next, at 10 o'clock, A.M.
From The Star and Sentinel of Gettysburg, Wednesday, April 15, 1868.
