Mayer, Philip Frederick

Mayer, Philip Frederick D.D., a distinguished American Lutheran minister, was born April 1, 1781, in the city of New York, where he continued to reside till he reached his majority. His earlier years were spent at the German school attached to the Lutheran Church. His preparation for college was made under the direction of Mr. Campbell. He graduated with the first honors of his class at Columbia College, New York, in 1799, then under the administration of Dr. W. S. Johnson. He spent three years in the prosecution of his theological studies, under the instruction of the Rev. Dr. Kunze, one of the most learned men of his day. He was licensed to preach the Gospel in 1802, and soon after took charge of the Lutheran Church at Lunenburg (now Athens), N. Y. In 1806 he resigned this position, and accepted a call as pastor of St. John's (Lutheran) Church, Philadelphia. This was the first exclusively English Lutheran congregation formed in this country. To the discharge of his arduous duties Dr. Mayer devoted himself with conscientious fidelity and untiring zeal. He was unwearied in his efforts to promote the good of his own flock, as well as faithful and constant in his aims to advance the welfare of the whole community. He never withheld his influence from any object which met his deliberate and cordial approval. In 1808 he was associated with bishop White, Dr. Green, Dr. Rush, and others in the formation of the Pennsylvania Bible Society, the first institution of the kind organized in the United States, of which he continued to be an active and efficient manager, and was at the time of his death the presiding officer. He was also the senior member of the board of trustees of the University of Pennsylvania. He was the president of the board of managers of the Deaf and Dumb Asylum and of the Philadelphia Dispensary, and was actively connected with other eleemosynary institutions. Liberal and enlarged in his views, he was at some time identified, either as a patron or director, with every philanthropic enterprise of a catholic spirit in his adopted city. He retained his pastoral connection with the Church till his death, which occurred April 16,1858. Dr. Mayer was no ordinary man, or he could never have so successfully sustained himself for so long a period among the same people, and enjoyed in so eminent a degree the regard and confidence of the whole community. He was a man of clear intellect and quick perceptions, united with great delicacy of taste and keen discernment. He was a ripe scholar, thoroughly acquainted with the whole range of English literature, and in the department of Biblical Criticism having few superiors. He received his D.D. from Columbia College, New York, and the University of Pennsylvania. (M. L. S.)