first House of Representatives of the United States of America, none
knew better than they that it was only a fitting tribute to the
character and abilities of their former pastor.

Kunze's is one of the great names on the roll of our ministers. He was
a scholar, a teacher, a writer, and an administrator of distinction.
Trained in the best schools of Germany, when he arrived in America in
1770, he at once took high rank among his colleagues in Philadelphia.
Besides his work as a minister he filled the chair of Oriental and
German languages in the University of Pennsylvania.

In 1784 he accepted a call to New York. He did this partly in the hope
of establishing a Lutheran professorship in Columbia College. He
accepted a call to the chair of Oriental languages in Columbia. He was
also a regent of the university.

Kunze was not only an able man, he was also a man of deep piety, a
qualification not altogether undesirable in a shepherd of souls. His
writings indicate that in his preaching and catechization he strove not
to beat the air but to win souls to a personal experience of salvation.

While it is doubtful whether he would find admission to some of the most
orthodox synods of our own day; he was comparatively free from the
latitudinarian tendencies which had been brought over from Germany
during the last quarter of the century.

Along with General Steuben and other influential citizens he founded,
the German Society, an association which is still an important agency
in the charitable work of this city.