MARTIN LUTHER STOEVER.
BY CHARLES W. SCHAEFFER, D. D.
"Some men achieve greatness, others have greatness thrust upon them." Yet, it might be possible for both conditions to be realized in one and the same person. A man of noble, generous nature, a stranger to the selfish aims of personal ambition, will devote his strength and life to the benevolent service of his race; and as the natural result, his name will come to occupy a prominence amongst the great and the good, which he himself, perhaps, would never have anticipated, and be surrounded with a lustre that might prove to be dazzling to his own modesty. . This greatness is thrust upon him, for it comes in defiance of his own unselfishness; and yet he has himself achieved it, for its moving cause is within and not without him. It is the result of his own labor, the ripened fruit of his own virtue, not the blind offering of partial friendship, nor the obsequious homage of irrational admiration.
Such cases, whenever they do occur, ought to be set down among the very highest types of greatness. They may not be marked by the adventurous courage of the soldier, nor by the extraordinary sagacity of the statesman, nor by the brilliant, intellectual force that distinguishes the poet or the philosopher; but they have all the elements of moral greatness, that high degree that can be attained only by those who come to know and to discharge the great duties of life, and what they ought to do in this present world.
To the many familiar friends of the late Prof. M. L. Stoever, of Pennsylvania College, it might naturally occur that his own life was an interesting and truthful illustration of the case supposed. Brilliant conceptions, startling schemes, enterprises
distinguished for quaint originality rather than practical utility, cannot be claimed as
furnishing material for an honest record of his life. But, the moral greatness of a
good man who filled a position that abounded in extraordinary opportunities of usefulness,
and filled it well, will be sure to enliven all the pages of any history of him
that might be written, with a brightness that would be cheerfully recognized, at once,
by all who knew him, and upon which even strangers might look with approbation.
The positive limits of the present article will necessarily confine it to a general
statement of the more prominent facts of his life, and forbid what might otherwise
prove to be an instructive exhibition of those principles, of which his life as a man,
as an educator, and as a Christian, was so fine an illustration.
Prof. Stoever was born in Germantown, Pa., February 17, 1820. Consecrated to
the Lord in his infancy, the training of his childhood and his youth was continuously
guided by his mother, a woman of unfeigned faith, in the direction of the ministry of
the gospel. It was with this high object alone in view, that he went to Gettysburg
in 1833; where, having prosecuted the prescribed course of study in Pennsylvania
College, he was graduated with high honor, having the Latin Salutatory in 1838.
From that day, the demands made upon him as a teacher of generous youth were so
pressing and constant as to break up all his early plans, so fondly chei-ished, and to
constrain him at last, to his own deep regret, to abandon the hope of ever serving
his generation in the ministry of the Word. It may be claimed that it was not his
own choice, but the dispensation of Divine Providence, that turned him aside from
one noble profession upon which he had set his heart, to another for which he
seemed to be specially gifted, and in the prosecution of which his life abounded in
such excellent and enduring fruit. Like as in the case of Dr. Chalmers, upon
abandoning the pastoral relation and becoming a Professor of Theology, the argument
may be the same : " I hope to become still more useful in the ministry, which
you say I have abandoned ; for now I expect, by the blessing of the Lord, to educate
many ministers, and to train them in mind and heart, for the preaching of the
Word." So the number is not small, of watchmen now upon the walls of Zion
who, among their fondest recollections, will ever cherish the happy impressions made
.upon them by the well-defined personality of _ Prof. Stoever—his genial nature, his
purity of heart, the sincerity of his faith, the warmth of his friendship, his scholarly
devotion and accuracy, and his success in inspiring his pupils with the love of whatsoever
things are just, and honest, and of good report.
Beginning with the time of his graduation, in 1838, he advanced by rapid steps,
through the headship of a Classical Academy in Maryland, and of the Preparatory
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1 66 FORMER INSTRUCTORS.
School at Gettysburg, until in 1845 he was elected Professor of History in Pennsylvania
College ; and after several enlargements of his duties, was finally chosen Professor
of the Latin Language and Literature, and of Political Economy, in 1855.
Correct ideas of discipline and felicity in the administration of it are of prime importance
in the character of a teacher ; and the high claims of Prof. Stoever in this
department may be gathered from the fact, that after the retirement of President
Ivrauth, the duties of presiding officer devolved upon him for many months, and the
administration of discipline was successfully disposed of, not in the harshness of unreasoning
rigor, but by the subduing and controlling influence of patience, sound
judgment and wise discrimination.
Though, as already intimated, he was a stranger to the selfish aims of personal
ambition, nevertheless his success as an educator spread his fame abroad, whilst the
literary honors conferred upon him by institutions of learning, and the prominent
positions in their service offered to his acceptance, were such as might well have satisfied
a spirit even of towering aspirations. The honorary degree Ph. D. was conferred
upon him by Hamilton College, N. Y., in 1866; and in 1869 he received the
degree LL. D. from Union College, N. Y. The presidency of Girard College,
Philadelphia, was offered to him in 1862; in 1869 he was elected Professor of Latin
in Muhlenberg College ; and at divers times he was strongly pressed to assume the
charge of several well-organized female seminaries in the West. These honors he
gracefully acknowledged, but respectfully declined, for the reason that the same
Providence which had bound him so long to Pennsylvania College, and with such
good results, did not appear to indicate it as his duty to withdraw from the service of
his Alma Mater. A sad evidence that he departed to his rest in the midst of his
usefulness, and with his fine capacities in full vigor, may be observed in the fact that
whilst his mortal remains were as yet awaiting interment, a letter reached his house
addressed to him by Bishop Clarkson of the Episcopal church, one of his former
pupils, announcing with great cordiality his election as President of the University
then recently founded at Lincoln, Nebraska.
His literary labors, though not greatly diversified, were extended; and his services
as a joui-nalist and a biographer afford many illustrations of intelligent enterprise, of
patient investigation, and of a clear perception of character. He was connected
with the Evangelical Quarterly Review from its beginning in 1849, ^^^^^ was its sole
Editor from 1857 until the time of his death. He had an article in every number;
and the Church will ever remember with gratitude his faithful record of the lives of
good men who, after an earnest ministry, entered into their rest, and whose names
and memories have been rescued from oblivion by his industrious and ready pen.
He has been called, and deservedly, "The Plutarch of the Lutheran Church;" for
in the variety of his subjects, in the patience of his investigations, in the heartiness
of his work, and in the artistic harmony of his details, he seems to have followed,
though it may be involuntarily, the high example of that illustrious father of biog-.
raphy.
He ever lived a theologian in spirit, and his official services in the Church were
constant, varied, and always important. His Secretaryship of the General Synod,
which continued for years, as also his Treasurership of the Education Society, were
invariably marked by that love of order, that systematic precision, which had been,
JOHN GEORGE MORRIS. 167^
even from his youth, so distinct a feature of his character. As a representative of
Luthei-anism in the presence of other evangeUcal bodies, and in social intercourse
with Christian men of other name, his bearing was such as to be, at once, creditable
to himself, and honorable to the Church that he loved.
Among the attractions of Gettysburg, which are partly natural, as of old, and partly
historic, of more recent times, we have no hesitation in according a lofty position to
its hospitality. Of this hospitality Prof. Stoever was a noble representative. He dispensed
it, of course, not with obtrusive display, but with the refinement of a gentleman,
with the sincerity of a Christian, with a delicacy that always put his guests at
ease, and with a heartiness that seemed to show that the use of hospitality was a very
delight to himself. Men whose names are prominent in the world of letters, theology,
science, ecclesiastical dignitaries, eminent professors. Christian men, whose reputation
is world-wide, have often met and been refreshed at his generous board, and enjoyed
repose beneath his hospitable roof. They may forget the viands and the order of
courses that attended these fine occasions ; but their recollection of the genial Professor
and of his pleasant family, their remembrance of " the feast of reason and the
flow of soul," that accompanied them, will not soon pass away.
He was an active member of the United States Christian Commission during the
war of the Rebellion. His support of the Government was hearty and unwavering,
whilst his sympathy for sick and wounded soldiers was often costly to himself, and
always deep, patient, and unbounded.
To his service as Professor in Pennsylvania College, he ever delighted to add the
labors of an Alumnus ; and in originating and prosecuting the endowment of the
Alumni Professorship, his influence was always prominent and untiring.
Professor Stoever's death, like his life, was peaceful and quiet. He came to Philadelphia
after the arduous labors of a trying session to find rest among his friends, but
only two days before his death was it thought necessary to seek the aid of a physician.
During the early morning of the day on which he died, he roused and said to his
wife and son : " The hour of my departure is at hand." Immediately he fell into a
sleep, from which he awoke to receive that " crown of righteousness, which the Lord
the righteous Judge shall give unto all that love his appearing." He died surrounded
by his own family and friends, among them his aged mother, whom he so dearly
loved ; and his body was laid quietly to rest in the churchyard of Trinity Lutheran
church, Germantown. His grave is marked by a stone with this simple inscription :
"Martin Luther Stoever. Born February 17, 1820. Died July 22, 1870. For
thirty-one years an instructor in Pennsylvania College. ' He giveth his beloved
sleep.'
From: E.S. Breidenbaugh, ed. The Pennsylvania College Book: 1832-1882, (Philadelphia: Lutheran Publication Society, 1882) p. 164-167.