Difference between revisions of "Joseph Frederick Berg"

Joseph Frederick Berg <ref name="term_24462" />  

<p> a minister of the Reformed (Dutch) Church, and a son of Rev. [[Christian]] Frederick Berg, of Denmark, was born at [[Grace]] Hill, Antigua, W. L., June 3, 1812. He was educated in the Moravian institutions at Fulnic, England, in 1816-25. In 1825 he came to the United States, and was placed in the Moravian school at Nazareth, Pa. He was made teacher of chemistry at [[Nazareth]] in 1829, when only seventeen years old, and while he was pursuing theological studies. In 1831 he was licensed, and was ordained and installed as pastor of the German Reformed [[Church]] at Harrisburg, Pa., Oct. 2, 1835-37. From 1837 to 1852 he was pastor of Race-street German Reformed Church, Philadelphia, and while here he also studied medicine in Jefferson College, and received the degree of M.D. He served the Second Reformed (Dutch) Church of [[Philadelphia]] from 1852 to 1861. At this time he was elected professor of didactic and polemic theology in the New [[Brunswick]] Seminary, in which capacity he labored until his death, which occurred July 20, 1871. In addition to his other labors, he was professor of evidences of [[Christianity]] at Rutgers [[College]] from 1862 to 1867. As a preacher he was successful. He did not so much aim to captivate his audience with glowing rhetoric or oratory, as to instruct them. His style was solid, logical, persuasive, and instructive. Although he had no relish for controversy, yet in this, as in whatever he undertook, he was a master. As a pastor, Dr. Berg was greatly beloved by his people; as a professor, he fully met the expectations of his friends and justified the wisdom of those who selected him. He wrote, The Tree and its [[Fruits]] (1837): — [[Ancient]] [[Landmarks]] (1838): — Christian Landmarks; or, The Centenary of the German Reformed Church (Phila. 1840): — The House of God and the [[Family]] [[Altar]] (1840): — Lectures on [[Romanism]] (eod.; several editions): — The [[Confessional]] (1841): — Papal Rome (eod.): — a series of pamphlets published anonymously, entitled A [[Voice]] from Rome, Rome's [[Policy]] towards the Bible, The Pope and the [[Presbyterians]] (1844).: — History of the Holy Robe of [[Treves]] (1843), an oral controversy with a [[Catholic]] priest: — The Old Paths; or, A Sketch of the [[Order]] and [[Discipline]] of the Reformed Church before the [[Reformation]] (1845): — A Plea for the [[Divine]] Law against [[Murder]] (1846): — [[Mysteries]] of the Inquisition, etc; (eod.): — Reply to [[Archbishop]] Hughes on the [[Doctrine]] of [[Protestants]] (1.850): — Expose of the Jesuits (eod.): — The Inquisition; Church and State, or Rome's Influence upon the Civil and [[Religious]] [[Institutions]] of our [[Country]] (1851), a prize essay: — [[Jehovah]] Nissi; or, [[Farewell]] Words to the First German Reformed Church (Phila. 1852): — Vindication of the Farewell Words (eod.): — The [[Bible]] Vindicated against the Aspersions of [[Joseph]] [[Barker]] (1854): — Translation. of Dens' Moral [[Theology]] (1842, 1856): — [[Prophecy]] and the Times; or, [[England]] and [[Armageddon]] (1856): — The [[Stone]] and the Image; or, The American [[Republic]] the Bane and Ruin of Despotism (eod.), an exposition of the fifth kingdom of Daniel's prophecy: — The Saint's Harp; or, Hymns and [[Spiritual]] Songs (eod.): — [[Abaddon]] and Mahanaim; or, Daemons and [[Guardian]] [[Angels]] (eod.): — Cause and Cure of Financial Distress (1857): — The [[Olive]] Branch, a Conservative View of Slavery (eod.): — Loyalty; or, Christian [[Obligation]] (1859): — Paganism, Popery, and Christianity; or, The Blessing of an Open Bible: — The Second [[Advent]] of [[Christ]] not Pre-Millennial (eod.): — The [[Evangelical]] Quarterly (1860-62, 3 vols.): — Valedictory [[Sermon]] before the Students of Rutgers College (1862): — History and Literature of the [[Heidelberg]] Catechism, and its Introduction into the [[Netherlands]] (1863), a translation of Von Alpen: — System of Didactic Theology (in MS.): — besides several books for children. See Corwin, Manual of the Ref. Church in [[America]] (3d ed.), p. 174; Presbyterian, July 29, 1871; Harbaugh, Fathers of the Germ. Ref. Church, 4:488. </p>

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