Swamp Church; subsequently member of the Continental Congress; Speaker
of the Assembly of Pennsylvania; President of the Convention which in
1787 ratified the Constitution of the United States; Speaker of the
first Congress of the United States of America."]

Before closing this chapter and taking up the account of Kunze's
pastorate, let us follow the steps of Frederick Muehlenberg, the former
pastor of the Swamp Church. We recall his unceremonious flight from New
York. We cannot blame him. The British had threatened to hang him if
they caught him.

We remember too that in Pennsylvania he was called upon to take an
active part in political affairs. He was a member of the Continental
Congress, also a member of the legislature of Pennsylvania and Speaker
of the Assembly. He was President of the Convention which ratified the
Constitution of the United States.

Thirteen years have passed since he left New York. It is A. D. 1789. New
York was just beginning to recover from the disastrous years of the
Revolution during which the British troops occupied the city. The
population had sunk from 20,000 to 10,000 in 1783, but by this time had
risen again to 30,000. The people were getting ready to celebrate the
greatest event in the history of the city, the inauguration of the first
President of the American Republic. Preparations were made to honor the
occasion with all possible ceremony. Great men had gathered from all
parts of the country. But to the older members of the Swamp Church there
was doubtless no one, not even Washington himself, who stood higher in
their esteem and affection than the representative from Pennsylvania,
the Reverend Frederick Muehlenberg. And when a few days later the
erstwhile German pastor of the Swamp Church was elected Speaker of the