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 Rev. JOHN M. KIEBS, B. D. 
 
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Cornell University 
 Library 
 
 The original of tiiis book is in 
 tine Cornell University Library. 
 
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 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924075868749 
 
CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY 
 
 3 1924 075 868 749 
 
 DISCOURSE 
 
 COMMEMORATIVE 
 
 OB" THE LATE 
 
 REV. JOHN M. KREBS, D. D 
 
 DSLTVEttED IN THE 
 
 RUTGERS PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, 
 
 CORNKR OF MADieOV AVKNUE AND TWKNTY-XINTH BTUKKT, NEW YORK, 
 
 SABBATH MORNING, OCTOBER 27, 1867. 
 
 BY WILLIAM B. SPRAGUE, D. D., 
 
 MINISTER OF THE SECOND PKESBYTEBIAN CHUECH, ALBANY. 
 
 PUBLISHED BY REQUEST OF THE BEREAVED FAMILT, AND THE 
 SESSION OF THE BEREAVED CHURCH. 
 
 ALBANY: 
 
 PRINTINO HOUSE CHARLES VAN BENTHTJYSEN ii SONS. 
 
 1867. 
 
DISCOURSE. 
 
 II CORINTHIA.NS, VI, I. 
 
 — WORICKltS TOGETIIEK WITH HIM- 
 
 Thc Apostle thus incidentally magnifies his 
 office, and that of all who share with him the 
 ministry of reconciliation. " Workers together 
 with Him," that is, God — workers in the cause 
 of God — workers in the strength of God — 
 workers with God Himself in carrying out the 
 great purposes of his everlasting love. The 
 fact that the Apostle could claim this high 
 character doubtless gave much additional effect 
 to his exhortation to the Corinthian Christians 
 not to receive the grace of God in vain ; but I 
 design, in the present discourse, to consider 
 the text independently of its connection, as 
 pointing to a high degree of ministerial efficiency; — 
 a quality which I will endeavour first to trace 
 to its sources, and then follow out in its results. 
 ■ By efficiency, we mean vigorous and successful 
 activity. By ministerial efficiency, the same 
 
activity manifested in connection with the 
 duties of the sacred office. By a high degree 
 of ministerial efficiency, a course of effort so 
 strongly marked as to cast into the shade the 
 ordinary standard of both labour and success. 
 It is this higher form of ministerial efficiency 
 that I shall have in view, chiefly, in the pres- 
 ent discourse. 
 
 You will anticipate me when I say that this 
 quality, like every other good thing that we 
 possess or hope for, must have its ultimate 
 source in God. And, if I mistake not, we shall 
 find, as we proceed, that, in the production of 
 it, his agency is to be recognized as the God 
 of Nature, of Providence, and of Grace. Nev- 
 ertheless, it has its subordinate sources, — which 
 are nothing else than the instrumentalities by 
 which God accomplishes his ends. 
 
 First in order comes the original aptitude of 
 the man, including the requisite natural endow- 
 ments of both mind and heart — and here the 
 God of Nature is to be reverently acknowledged. 
 
 Far be it from me to intimate that none are 
 to aspire to the sacred office who do not possess 
 originally the highest order of intellect, or 
 have not reached the highest point of general 
 
culture and attainment; though that must 
 indeed be a rare case, if it ever exists, in Avhich 
 one of inferior intellectual endowments is justi- 
 fied in becoming a Minister of the Gospel. 
 But, while the ordinary measure of ministerial 
 efficiency may be expected from the ordinary 
 measure of intellectual force, it cannot be 
 doubted that a mind of extraordinary vigour and 
 versatility is capable of accomplishing far 
 more, in this department, as well as every 
 other, than one of an humbler mould. If there 
 are a few instances in which other causes ope- 
 rate to intensify and extend beyond what might 
 seem to be its legitimate boundary the influence 
 of the less gifted, yet, in all ordinary cases, we 
 looli for the grandest results where we find the 
 greatest powers. It is the man of commanding 
 eloquence whom we expect to thrill the hearts 
 of the multitude from the pulpit. It is the 
 man of discriminating and profound thought 
 from whom come the treasures of religious 
 knowledge. It is the man of far-reaching 
 vision and deep practical sagacity that origi- 
 nates and puts in operation those mighty plans 
 that contemplate the improvement of society 
 and the final regeneration of the world. These 
 
(J 
 
 are the men whom we recognize as leaders in 
 the host of Israel; though the multitude of 
 Christ's Ministers, whose talents do not rise 
 above the common level, may labour just as 
 faithfully, and, according to their measure, just 
 as acceptably, as they who are thus signally 
 favoured. 
 
 But with high intellectual qualities high 
 moral qualities must be united, — else the legit- 
 imate action of the former will be, to a great 
 extent, neutralized. There must be that cau- 
 tious spirit that guards against mistakes; that 
 sympathising spirit that can feel for others' 
 woes; that conciliatory spirit that is ready to 
 forgive and earnest to reclaim; that energetic 
 spirit that wakens the faculties into vigorous 
 exercise and secures the voluntary cooperation 
 of other minds ; that persevering spirit that 
 never falters in the presence of obstacles, nor 
 asks to be relieved from further efforts or sacri- 
 fices. These several qualities, as they exist in 
 the Christian Minister, I am taking for granted, 
 are animated and controlled by a truly spiritual 
 religion; but the qualities themselves have 
 their foundation in nature ; and while, in some 
 cases, they assume a feeble or doubtful charac- 
 
ter, in others they take on a commanding and 
 symmetrical form, that constitutes them a 
 mighty power, and invests them with rare 
 attraction. 
 
 Another of the subordinate sources of minis- 
 terial efficiency is the designation and selection of 
 a suitable field of labour — and here we have an 
 example of Godi's Providential agency. Ministers, 
 indeed, may legitimately exercise their voca- 
 tion in any part of the world where human 
 beings are found ; for wherever there are 
 human beings, there are sinners who are spirit- 
 ually dead, or saints who are but imperfectly 
 sanctified, or both, combined in the same 
 community — and it is the province of the 
 minister to oft'er salvation to the lost ; to devel- 
 ope and strengthen and elevate the graces of 
 the renewed nature, and thus endeavour to 
 hasten on the mediatorial triumph. But, while 
 a Minister may reasonably exercise his office 
 wherever he can find subjects for the Gospel to 
 act upon, the measure of his success will 
 probably depend, in no small degree, on the 
 amount of congruity that exists between his 
 field of labour on the one hand, and his talents, 
 proclivities and habits, on the other. No matter 
 
how great may bo his natural gifts, or how 
 well-disposed he may be for the right exercise 
 of them, if his way is hedged up by insur- 
 mountable obstacles, you can expect no decisive 
 results from his labours ; whereas, on the other 
 hand, if his field is one in which he can feel at 
 home and work with alacrity and freedom, — 
 even though it may have some difficult and 
 forbidding points, you may confidently expect 
 that many goodly monuments of his activity 
 will rise up around him. The legitimate field 
 of ministerial offort is the world ; and large 
 portions of the world are still shrouded in 
 Pagan darkness ; but these are accessible to the 
 influence of the Ministry, and therefore the 
 Ministry is bound to plant itself there, and 
 prosecute its work, until those desolate regions 
 have come within the light and the power of a 
 pure Christianity. There are none, however 
 well adapted they may be, who can expect 
 great results from their labours on heathen 
 ground at once; but those who are qualified for 
 such a field, have every encouragement to 
 occupy it, and every assurance that success 
 will ultimately come in the train of their 
 fidelity. The question which Ministers have 
 
9 
 
 to settle in determining where they shall labour 
 is, not whether the field that opens to them has 
 serious difficulties, but whether they can hope 
 for the needed wisdom and power to encounter 
 them successfully. Let the record of Eliot and 
 Mayhew and Brainard testify that there is that 
 in a rightly adapted ministry that can cause 
 even the wilderness to bud and blossom as the 
 rose. Let all who engage in this work, while 
 they submissively refer the ordering of their 
 lot to God's gracious providence, see to it that 
 they interpret the indications of his providence 
 aright, and select a field where their labours 
 are most needed, or where they can prosecute 
 them to the best advantage. 
 
 Yet another of the sources of ministerial 
 efficiency, and the crowning one of all, is an 
 earnest piety , prompting at once to the faithful 
 discharge of duty and to an humble reliance on 
 the promised aids of the Holy Spirit — and this 
 brings to our view the God of Grace. The work 
 in which ministers are engaged is essentially a 
 spiritual work; for God condescends to recog- 
 nize them as workers with Himself, — as helpers 
 in the building up of his own cause ; and He is 
 pledged to grant them all needed strength for 
 
10 
 
 the service He requires of them ; and that 
 strength is identified especially with the 
 workings of his own gracious Spirit. While it 
 comes within their province to labour within 
 suitable limits for the temporal well-being of 
 their fellow men, they are chiefly concerned 
 with the invisible and the future ; and the 
 interests committed to them, not less than the 
 grace dispensed to them, impart to their voca- 
 tion the highest spirituality. 
 
 Is it not obvious, on the least reflection, that 
 a spirit of earnest piety, begotten and nurtured, 
 as it is, by God's Holy Spirit, must be a foun- 
 tain of living energy in the soul ; that it must 
 be prolific of earnest desires to glorify Christ, 
 and prompt to vigorous efforts in the same 
 direction? One of the elements of this spirit 
 is a deep sense of the soul's infinite worth, and 
 of the necessity of its becoming the subject of 
 a spiritual renovation, in order -that it may 
 escape Hell and obtain Heaven — and surely 
 such a conviction will consist with any thing 
 rather than a passive habit of mind. Another 
 of its elements is the love of Christ, — one of 
 the most influential of all principles, — whether 
 it take on the form of gratitude for his benefits 
 
11 
 
 or complacency in his character and works. 
 And yet another is the love of doing good for 
 its own sake, — the desire of diffusing happiness 
 far and wide; of transforming this earth into 
 at least a faint resemblance to Heaven. Let 
 these principles and sentiments, which are 
 only the legitimate workings of a truly 
 Christian spirit, become fixjed in a Minister's 
 inmost heart, and they cannot but exert a 
 controlling influence over his life. They con- 
 stitute a pledge of vigorous and earnest fidelity 
 that can never fail. They do not even leave it 
 at his option whether or not to magnify the 
 office to which the Head of the Church has 
 designated him. 
 
 But there is another power, not among the 
 original elements of his nature, of which it is 
 the privilege of the devoted Christian Minister 
 to avail himself. The farther he advances in 
 a godly life, the more sensible he becomes of 
 his utter insufficiency to meet the demands 
 of his high vocation, or even the Christian's 
 ordinary duties, in his own strength ; but what 
 matters that, so long as he can bring to his aid 
 an Almighty arm ? I follow the Minister about 
 in his laborious and self-denying work, and see 
 
12 
 
 him moving against obstacles till his faith 
 begins to falter, and a dark cloud overshadows 
 his path ; but I follow him to his closet, and 
 there I find him becoming strong again from 
 having put himself into fresh communion with 
 the Lord, his strength. With the Apostle he 
 exclaims, — " I can do all things through Christ 
 which strengtheneth me ; " and, prosecuting 
 his work in this spirit, he sees the mountains 
 becoming plains before him. He gratefully 
 acknowledges that it is not himself, but Christ 
 dwelling in him, who performs the work. Is it 
 any wonder that, with such a power at his 
 command, he should be mighty to the pulling 
 down of strong-holds ? 
 
 Such are the sources of eminent efficiency in 
 a Minster of the Gospel; — a highly favourable 
 intellectual and moral constitution, including 
 the requisite culture; a field suited at once to 
 occupy and develope the faculties to the best 
 advantage ; and, finally, that deep and all- 
 pervading piety that involves principles of 
 mighty power, while it gives access to the 
 stores of Omnipotent grace. Let us now, 
 having glanced at the sources of this quality, 
 follow it out in its results. 
 
13 
 
 In the first place, mark the influence which 
 such a minister exerts on individual character 
 and destiny. It is quite a supposable case that 
 the person concerned may have contracted a 
 habit of open vice, by means of which he has 
 brought upon himself manifold temporal evils; 
 and that the change of character here contem- 
 plated involves a deliverance from the deepest 
 moral degradation; but, in the case which I 
 here suppose, I leave out of view every thing 
 except the one fact that the soul is dead in 
 trespasses and sins; that it has contracted 
 guilt that must be cancelled, pollution that must 
 be removed, before the fears of Hell can be 
 legitimately exchanged for the hopes of Heaven. 
 Yonder is a human being in possession, it may 
 be, of every means of worldly enjoyment, but 
 without love to God, without faith in Christ, 
 without any well grounded hope of a better life. 
 But perhaps suddenly, perhaps by a more 
 gradual process, of which he can give but little 
 account, his conscience wakes into a fierce 
 accuser and a reign of terror seems established 
 in his bosom. Wait a little and you shall see 
 that cloud breaking away — the clamours of guilt 
 are hushed, the regenerating work has been 
 
14 
 
 performed, there has been a joyful meeting 
 between the soul and its Saviour, and the first 
 steps in the heavenly life are already being 
 taken. And now, as that Christian pilgrim 
 goes on his way, he is a constant witness to the 
 loving kindness of the Lord. He walks in 
 green pastures and beside still waters. As a 
 disciple, he loves to sit at the Saviour's feet, 
 and his whole heart goes forth in the work of 
 glorifying Him. At length the cold shadows 
 of the night of death gather around him ; but 
 still he walks fearlessly, because he is led by 
 an all-gracious hand. And now the light from 
 beyond is breaking upon his spirit, — the light 
 of heavenly glory ; and if you inquire for him 
 after millions -of millions of ages, you will find 
 him the same glorified immortal, only with a 
 measure of purity that has been ever .increasing, 
 and with a proportionally brighter crown. 
 
 And what is the instrumentality employed 
 in effecting this mighty change, this change 
 from being exposed to all the woes of the 
 second death to becoming entitled to, and finally 
 possessed of, all the glories of the life everlast- 
 ing ? It is the simple preaching of the Gospel 
 in its purity and power. The Minister of 
 
15 
 
 Christ points the arrow, and God's Spirit car- 
 ries it home to the slumbering conscience, and 
 thus begins the process that has its issue in 
 that spiritual renovation, which is at once the 
 pledge and the germ of immortal glory. But 
 for that word fitly spoken, that spiritual leth- 
 argy might never have been disturbed ; but for 
 the counsels of wisdom and love, subsequently 
 uttered by the same voice, that awakened soul 
 might never have found the way into the King- 
 dom. But remember that that converted, saved 
 individual is but one of a host who will grace 
 the triumph of that efficient labourer for 
 Christ. What a record must such an one have 
 to fill him with joy and praise on the final day ! 
 But the issues of an efficient ministry are to 
 be traced still farther in the general edification, 
 purification and growth of the Church; — of the 
 particular Church with which the individual 
 concerned is more immediately connected, and 
 of the Church at large. Towards that portion 
 of'the Church of which the Holy Ghost hath 
 constituted him overseer his efforts are 
 especially directed ; and we may expect to 
 witness the result in a corresponding increase 
 of its knowledge and piety, its stability and 
 
16 
 
 efficiency; though it is possible that this result 
 may be essentially interfered with by counter- 
 acting agencies over which he has no control. 
 But his influence spreads, like the healthful 
 breezes of Spring, over the whole Church, — 
 especially over that part of it that falls within 
 his own communion ; and, by the wisdom of his 
 counsels and the energy of his acts, as well as 
 the fervency of his prayers, he makes himself 
 felt, as a mighty spiritual power, far beyond 
 the range of his vision, or perhaps even his 
 personal knowledge. Indeed, it is not too much 
 to say that such a Minister's influence reaches 
 to the ends of the earth. Even where the 
 Church exists only in an embryo form, or has 
 no existence at all, his hand is moving, either 
 to nurture it in its infancy or to open the way 
 for its establishment. The whole Church justly 
 places his name on the roll of her benefactors; 
 and the services which he has rendered her 
 will not be forgotten either on earth or in 
 Heaven. 
 
 And last of all, what are the results of an 
 efficient ministry, in respect to him by whom it 
 is exercised? I do not say that he may not be 
 subjected to many severe trials in connection 
 
17 
 
 with it; that he may not often have occasion 
 to exclaini, "Who hath believed our report?" — 
 that he may not sometimes meet with opposi- 
 tion where he had looked for sympathy, and 
 see some of his most cherished plans fail for 
 want of the desired cooperation ; but such 
 experiences as these are doubtless necessary to 
 his own personal discipline, and therefore to the 
 largest measure of success. And, after all, they 
 appear on the record of his ministry only as 
 exceptions from his ordinary experience. In 
 general, his heart has been cheered, not only 
 by his being in intimate communion with 
 Christ, but by his being privileged to know 
 that manifold blessings have come in the train 
 of his labours. The seals of his ministry, which 
 are destined to turn into gems to his crown, he 
 sees all around him. The Church to which he 
 ministers, even though they may have walked 
 with him in the deep waters, heap blessings 
 upon him as the grand instrument of their pros- 
 perity, while they watch in faith and prayer 
 for the germination and expansion of much 
 good seed that yet remains dormant. He shares 
 the benedictions of the wise and good every 
 where. Death, in prospect, wakens no terror. 
 
18 
 
 because of the glory into which it opens; and 
 then comes the meeting with the multitude of 
 witnesses to his fidelity, and his Redeemer's 
 welcome plaudit, and then the everlasting 
 occupancy of one of the brightest of Heaven's 
 thrones, even those on which they sit who have 
 turned many to righteousness. 
 
 Such are the issues of an earnest and efficient 
 ministry, in respect to individuals, to the 
 Church, and to those who are favoured to exer- 
 cise it. 
 
 The occasion devolves upon me the duty of 
 saying something of your late beloved Pastor 
 and my beloved Friend. The necessity, 
 however, for my attempting any thing like a 
 formal outline of his life has already been 
 superseded by the Funeral Address to which 
 you were privileged^ to listen, and more 
 recently by the yet more minute details that 
 have appeared in some of our religious newspa- 
 pers. Presuming, therefore, that the leading 
 facts of his life are familiar to you, I propose 
 now to use them, as they have already been 
 furnished to us, merely in the way of illustra- 
 ting his character ; especially that most prom- 
 inent feature, — his high efficiency as a Minister 
 
19 
 
 of the Gospel. In accomplishing my object, I 
 shall keep in view the ground that we have 
 just traversed; and you will bear in mind that, 
 in speaking of the sources of his efficiency, I 
 shall consider the religious element as perva- 
 ding and giving direction to all the rest. 
 
 The foundation of this commanding quality, 
 as exhibited by the lamented Dr. Krebs, was 
 laid by the God of Nature, in the high intellec- 
 tual and moral endowments with which he was 
 originally favoured. No one who knew him 
 could doubt that his mind was naturally of a 
 superior mould. His jjerceptions were at once 
 quick and clear, his judgment sound, his taste 
 exact, his memory retentive, and his facility 
 at both acquiring and communicating knowledge 
 rarely equalled. And his moral nature was in 
 harmony with his intellectual. His heart was 
 the native element of generous impulses and 
 sympathetic and kindly emotions. In all his 
 intercourse he was perfectly free- from guile, 
 and even the semblance of double dealing in 
 others revolted him. And withal there was in 
 his nature a directness, an earnestness, an 
 energy of purpose, in connection with a desire 
 to be always occupied, which, sanctified by 
 
20 
 
 religion, may be said to have formed one of his 
 noblest characteristics. He was cheerful, often 
 even jubilant, in his intercourse with his 
 friends ; but his social proclivities were not 
 allowed either to interfere with his serious 
 duties, or to mar the dignity of his vocation. 
 
 Next, we may notice how graciously the 
 God of Providence led him into the ministry, 
 and through the ministry, ordering his lot in 
 such a manner as to secure to him the largest 
 opportunities of usefulness. Not only had he 
 the advantages of a Christian education, which 
 formed the legitimate preparation for his 
 assuming the Christian character, but he was 
 placed in circumstances of much secular respon- 
 sibility, which helped to develope that 
 wonderful facility and aptitude for business of 
 a higher order, by which his character was 
 afterwards so strongly marked. After being 
 licensed to preach the Gospel, his arrangements 
 were made for taking the regular theological 
 course at Princeton ; but, by a concurrence of 
 circumstances, alike undesigned and unexpect- 
 ed on his part, he was introduced to the 
 pastoral charge of the Rutgers Street Church. 
 Considering the eminent men who had preceded 
 
21 
 
 him in the pastorate, in connection with the 
 fact that he was himself a young man, and had 
 by no means a mature preparation for the 
 ministry, his settlement here was probably 
 regarded by some as an experiment of doubtful 
 success. But it placed him in a field, second 
 perhaps to no other, in its advantages for use- 
 fulness. Here, or rather yonder, where I 
 believe his heart lingered gratefully to the last, 
 he found himself in the midst of a large and 
 influential congregation, ready to welcome his 
 benign influence upon themselves, and coope- 
 rate with him for carrying it abroad to others. 
 Here were public institutions, already estab- 
 lished, for sustaining and carrying forward the 
 great objects and interests of humanity; and 
 here were other similar institutions, starting 
 into life on every side, and requiring the 
 utmost wisdom to guide and mature them. 
 Then, again, the prominent position which this 
 Church occupied was an introduction of its 
 Pastor to the Presbyterian Church at large ; 
 and it was impossible that such skill in ecclesi- 
 astical affairs as he possessed should fail to be 
 put in requisition for sustaining and advancing 
 its interests. In short, it is not easy to imag- 
 
22 
 
 ine any opportunities for ministerial usefulness 
 of which his coming into this field did not put 
 him in possession. 
 
 But superadded to the liberal endowments of 
 nature and the kindly orderings of Providence 
 were the powerful actings of God's grace, in 
 forming him after a strongly marked and eleva- 
 ted type of Christia-n character. His religion, 
 like all religion that is pure and true, had its 
 foundation in knowledge ; — a deep, thorough, 
 ever increasing knowledge of God's word. 
 And this became with him, through the power 
 of the Holy Spirit, the very breath of the new 
 life. And the Christian graces sprang up, not 
 indeed in absolute perfection, but in beautiful 
 harmony, in response to an influence from 
 above, and as a ministration of blessing below. 
 His religion was of a consistent, earnest, active 
 type, but without a tinge of cant or display or 
 affectation. It kept him always about his 
 Master's business, but it left him in full posses- 
 sion of his beautiful simplicity and naturalness. 
 
 Having thus considered the efficiency of this 
 excellent Minister in its sources let us now 
 view it in its actual manifestations. And this 
 we may perhaps do to the best advanta2;e 
 
by observing his movements, first within, 
 and then beyond, the limits of his own congre- 
 gation ; in other words, first as a Preacher and 
 a Pastor, and then as a Manager and Ruler in 
 the Church. 
 
 With the natural powers and deep scriptural 
 knowledge and spiritual fervour that I have 
 ascribed to Dr. Krebs, it was hardly possible 
 that he should fail of being a highly efficient 
 preacher — and such undoubtedly he was, though 
 far enough from being the special attraction of 
 the multitude, who never breathe freely except 
 amidst startling novelties. His preaching was 
 so clear that the humblest intellect rarely, if 
 ever, halted as to its meaning — it was so full of 
 well-digested thought that the broadest mind 
 found in it ample material for reflection — it was 
 so evangelical that it carried the Saviour into 
 every heart to which it was admitted — it was 
 so bold and earnest that it seemed, as indeed it 
 was, the dexterous wielding of the very sword 
 of the Spirit. I have heard that his extempo- 
 raneous efforts in your weekly meetings Avere 
 often singularly effective ; that his most impres- 
 sive utterances of God's truth were from the 
 spontaneous workings of his mind, without any 
 
24 
 
 mature preparation. It ill becomes me to 
 speak of him to you as a Pastor; and yet, in my 
 own intercourse with him, I have more than 
 once witnessed the deep movings of an afTec- 
 tionate Pastor's heart, while he was speaking 
 of his relation to you ; and I do not believe 
 that I could present before you so vivid a 
 picture of pastoral thoughtfulness and fidelity, 
 that it would exceed the actual reality of what 
 you have been witnessing here during many 
 by-gone years. 
 
 But it was not in connection with his own 
 congregation merely, but in sustaining and 
 advancing the interests of the Church at large, 
 that Dr. Krebs' great power was manifest. 
 You find his name on the lists of the Clerks of 
 the Presbytery and Synod of New York ; of 
 the Clerks and Moderators of the General 
 Assembly ; of the members of the Board of 
 Foreign Missions; of the Directors, and finally 
 of the Presidents of the Board of Directors, 
 of the Theological Seminary at Princeton. I 
 do not refer to the fact of his having merely 
 held these and other posts of responsibility in 
 the Church, as evidence of his extraordinary 
 efficiency, though the fact of his having been 
 
S-i 
 
 appointed to them betokens a high sense of his 
 capability ; but I refer chiefly to the manner in 
 which he demeaned himself in these high posi- 
 tions ; to his perfect familiarity with every 
 thing pertaining to ecclesiastical law and usage ; 
 to the facility with which he could bring other 
 minds into harmonious action with his own, and 
 could apply, as from an instinctive perception, 
 his vast knowledge of men and things, of rules 
 and customs, to the accomplishment of any 
 object to which it was adapted. I speak 
 advisedly when I say that I have never known 
 the man, either in the Presbyterian Church or 
 any other, who could move about more intelli- 
 gently or more effectively in any ecclesiastical 
 body than Dr. Krebs. 
 
 I must add a word of the results of his 
 efl&ciency in respect to himself — for this is the 
 point at which we especially love to linger 
 amidst these visible memorials of funeral gloom. 
 I know that our departed friend had his full 
 share of life's trials — the repeated visits of 
 death to his dwelling, sundering the tenderest 
 earthly ties ; the abandonment of the house of 
 worship which had echoed to his voice for nearly 
 a quarter of a century, — the result of circum- 
 
26 
 
 stances beyond his control; and, last of all, that 
 protracted season of sujQferingboth of mind and 
 body, that seemed well nigh to anticipate Death's 
 work, — each of these forms a chapter in his 
 history, over which we may well pause and 
 weep. And yet why should we weep, when 
 we remember that these very trials were so 
 many good angels in disguise, designed to get 
 his spirit ready for its upward flight? But, in 
 contrast with all this, let us look at the bless- 
 ings which were constantly flowing in upon 
 him through his own efficient ministry. Think 
 of the voice from within testifying to his 
 fidelity and bidding him look onward and 
 upward. Think of the gradual process of spir- 
 itual illumination and edification that was going 
 on around him; of the many souls training up 
 under his ministry to become his joy and crown. 
 Think of the Church at large becoming more 
 stable and extended and prolific of good deeds 
 through his instrumentality. And though dis- 
 ease may have rendered his mind temporarily 
 a blank, so that he could take no cognizance of 
 any thing beyond him, or even around him, yet 
 think of the dropping of the earthly tabernacle 
 as the signal not only for his entering Heaven, 
 
J,l 
 
 but for his receiving the benedictions of a 
 waiting multitude whom his fidelity had already- 
 borne thither. Verily, his efficiency has its 
 reward ; — a reward begun already, but destined 
 to an eternal expansion amidst the glory of the 
 third Heavens. 
 
 Having spoken thus at length of the efficiency 
 of the Pastor who has served you during so 
 many years, let me remind you that you have 
 not done with that efficiency, notwithstanding 
 its record is now complete. The ministry 
 which he has exercised among you, with so 
 much diligence and power, has indeed come to 
 a close ; but the atmosphere which it has pro- 
 duced you still breathe ; its faithful deliverances 
 still vibrate upon your ear, and with all the 
 more impressiveness from their association with 
 the grave. Wherefore, let me entreat you, one 
 and all, still to heed your departed Pastor's 
 teachings, and thus let his ministrations of love 
 be continued to you, while he is also minister- 
 ing around the throne. You who have been his 
 fellow-lielpers in managing the affairs and 
 presiding over the interests of this Church, 
 will you not gird yourselves for renewed efforts 
 for its prosperity, now that he who has led you 
 
28 
 
 so long, and whose words were wisdom and 
 whose acts were energy, has closed his earthly 
 labours. You who expect to adorn his immortal 
 crown, will you not endeavour, as the Best 
 tribute you can render to his memory, to walk 
 in the footsteps of his faith, to profit by your 
 remembrance of his words, and to be ready, at 
 God's bidding, to join him in the communion of 
 the ransomed. You who have heard his solemn 
 admonitions without heeding them, and are 
 obliged to think of his ministry as a scene of 
 neglected privileges, will you not at once avail 
 yourselves of the gracious provision he has so 
 often and so earnestly urged upon you, lest you 
 should meet him in the judgment as a witness 
 to the justice of your final condemnation. You 
 whom he has counselled and comforted in hours 
 of sorrow, will you not endeavour to reproduce 
 in your minds the thoughts that he awakened, 
 and thus renew your confidence in that God 
 who doeth all things well. You who are in 
 the morning of life, you who are in the noonday 
 of life, you who are in the evening of life, call 
 to mind the solemn instructions and warnings 
 of your departed Eastor, adapted to the period 
 through which you are now passing, and let 
 
29 
 
 them come to you enforced and intensified by 
 the thought that you shall see his face no more. 
 Other voices will address you here, to which I 
 trust you will give heed, as for your life ; but, 
 I pray you, forget not the past — forget not 
 those tender, earnest, impressive deliverances, 
 in which life and death have been so vividly 
 set before you, and you have been urged to 
 choose life./ 
 
 If death has deprived you, as a congregation, 
 of your Pastor, need I say that it has come yet 
 nearer to one of your families in depriving it 
 of its revered and beloved head ; especially in 
 leaving a group of children, before motherless, 
 now without a father. Shall I tender them my 
 sympathy in view of their loss, or shall I offer 
 them my congratulations in view of the precious 
 legacy which their father has left to them and 
 of the glorious reward of which he has already 
 come in possession. Let them mourn, but let 
 gratitude and praise qualify their mourning. 
 Let them look upward, and, as they are oppressed 
 by a sense of their bereavement, think of the 
 fresh treasure that Heaven has gained, and press 
 forward to a blissful reunion with those whom 
 they love. 
 
30 
 
 Can we forbear to look with reverential sad- 
 ness upon the tide of desolation, which, under 
 the guidance of that wisdom that can never err, 
 is constantly sweeping through the Church ? 
 Some of us remember a generation of ministers, 
 of which there is now scarcely a representative 
 upon earth. Here in your own city, and within 
 the limits of our own denomination, Rogers, and 
 Mason, and Romeyn, and Whelpley, — all among 
 the acknowledged lights of their day, — have 
 closed their earthly labours and passed on to a 
 higher existence. Others of equally cherished 
 name, Alexander, and Potts, and Phillips, and 
 now Krebs, have been taken from among you 
 since ; while a few venerable fathers, whose 
 names will at once occur to you, of the genera- 
 tion now passing away, are yet — thanks to a 
 gracious Providence — waiting, but still working, 
 for their Lord. Shall not ministers, whose 
 period of labour here is so very brief, and whom 
 every day is bringing nearer to their last account, 
 be admonished, by this solemn feature of their 
 condition, to increased activity in their work ? 
 Shall not the Church, as a Body, in view of the 
 bereavements to which she is constantly sub- 
 jected, arise and pledge herself to a more 
 
oi 
 
 efficient cooperation with her ministers in the 
 great enterprise of the universal establishment 
 of Christ's kingdom ? Let her, as she contem- 
 plates the gloomy vacancies that Death is 
 constantly making in the ranks of her faithful 
 servants, submissively say, — " The will of the 
 Lord be done;" but let her also lift her eye to 
 her gracious Head and exclaim trustingly, even 
 triumphantly, — " Thine is the power and thine 
 • shall be all the glory." 
 
The following sketch of th« Life of Dr. 
 .Krebs appeared in the New York Observer of 
 the week immediately succeeding his death : 
 
 John Michael Krebs, son of William and Ann 
 Adamson Kvebs, was born at Hagerstown, Maryland, 
 May 6, 1804. His father was of German, his mother 
 of English, extraction ; and both were of highly respec- 
 table families. He began to go to school at the age of 
 two years and a half, and was kept at school pretty 
 constantly, enjoying the best advantages the town 
 afforded, till he was between fourteen and fifteen. In 
 this time he gave some little attention to the classics, 
 though his attention was chiefly directed to English 
 studies. His father, who wa^ a man of great energy, 
 integritj^ and respectability, was a merchant, and also 
 held the office of Postmaster; and, at the age above 
 mentioned, this son became a clerk in the Post Office, at 
 the same time rendering some service in his father's 
 store, which had meanwhile been given up chiefly to 
 his brother. He had always a strong passion for read- 
 ino- of every kind ; and he indulged his taste in this 
 way durinc all the intervals of leisure that he could 
 command. He had, finally, the chief direction of the 
 concerns of the Post Office ; and, by this means, acquired 
 the tact for business for which he was ever after remark- 
 able. He continued to be thus employed from 1817 till 
 
 6 
 
34 
 
 the death of his father, in 1822. For somewhat more 
 than a year after this he was occupied in assisting his 
 mother to settle his father's estate, which, owing to 
 various circumstances, became so reduced that a very 
 small part of what had been expected was saved for his 
 famil}'. 
 
 He had been religiously educated, and in his child- 
 hood was sometimes the subject of serious impressions, 
 which, however, did not prove enduring. His father 
 Avas a meml)er of tli'e German Reformed Church, and 
 his mother, after her marriage, became one, though she 
 had previously been an Episcopalian — as, however, the 
 services were conducted in that Church in the German 
 language, the son chiefly attended the Presbyterian 
 Church. In 1821, the year before his father's death, 
 his thoughts were intensely directed towards serious 
 things, and he read Doddridge's Rise and Progress, 
 earnestly desiring to gain some rest to his troubled and 
 agitated spirit. Subsequently to his father's death, his 
 impressions became deeper and stronger ; and, after 
 many and severe inward struggles, of whch those around 
 him knew nothing, his mind gradually came to repose 
 in the gracious provisions of the Gospel ; and, at the 
 age of nearly nineteen, he joined the Church under the 
 pastoral care of the Rev. John Lind. He now formed 
 a purpose to devote himself to the ministry, and Mr. 
 Lind proposed that he should become his private pupil. 
 He accepted this proposal ; and, after studying under 
 Mr. Lind's direction for some mouths, he entered an 
 Academy in his native town, and, in February, 1825, 
 joined the Sophomore class of Dickinson College, 
 Carlisle, half advanced. He graduated in September, 
 1827, imder the Presidency of the Rev. Dr. Neill, 
 receiving one of the highest honours of his class. 
 
35 
 
 He then began his theologiciil studies under the Rev. 
 Dr. Duffield. Three or four months after this, a 
 vacancy having occurred in the grammar school attached 
 to the College, he was appointed to fill it ; and here he 
 continued, in the business of instruction, for two years ; 
 at the same time improving his leisure in the prosecu- 
 tion of his theological studies. 
 
 At the end of two years from the time he was gradu- 
 ated, (October, 1829), he was licensed by the Presbytery 
 of Carlisle to preach the Gospel. During the winter 
 and spring after he was licensed, he preached, by 
 ■appointment of Presbytery, to various vacant congre- 
 gations in the neighbourhood. In May, 1830, he set his 
 face towards Princeton, to pursue further his theological 
 studies in the Seminary. But, as it was then vacation, 
 he determined to make a brief visit to his friends in 
 New York. He lodged at the house of Mrs. Bethune ; 
 and, in consequence of being detained by unfavorable 
 weather a day longer than he had intended, he was in- 
 vited to preach a Sabbath in Christopher Street Church, 
 and accepted the invitation. The next week, just as ho 
 was about to leave for Princeton, he was requested to 
 supplj^ the Rutgers Street Church for a Sabbath, which 
 invitation he also accepted ; and, after preaching one 
 Sabbath, it was proposed to him that he should become 
 a stated supply for two or three months. He went to 
 Princeton, without having given them a positive answer ; 
 and, after he had become matriculated and attended a 
 single lecture, having received rencAved proposals from 
 New York, he concluded to return and pass a few weeks 
 there, expecting, however, still to resume his place in 
 the Seminary in the fall. After preaching for the 
 Rutgers Street people two or three months, he received 
 a call, (September, 1830), to become their Pastor. He 
 o-ave an affirmative answer in about four weeks, and 
 
was installed on the 12th of November, 1830, having 
 been ordained the week previous, at Lancaster, Pa., by 
 the Presbytery of Carlisle. The Sermon at his Ordi- 
 nation was preached by the Eev. James AVilliamson, 
 and that at his Installation by the Eev. Cyrus Mason. 
 
 He received the degree of Doctor of Divinity from 
 Dickinson College, in 1841. 
 
 Dr. Krebs was married October 7th, 1830, to Sarah 
 Harris, daughter of Andrew and Anne Holmes, of 
 Carlisle. They had two children. Mrs. Krebs died on 
 the 20th of February, l837. He was married on the 
 10th of April, 1839, to Ellen 'Dewitt, daughter of John' 
 Chambers, of Newburgh. By this marriage he had 
 several children. One of his daughters, a lovely girl, 
 died in the spring of 1863, and Mrs. Krebs died before 
 the close of that year. 
 
 In 1837 he was appointed Permanent Clerk of the 
 General Assembly, and retained the office till 1845 — he 
 had resigned it the year previous, but his resignation 
 was not accepted. In 1845 he was Moderator of the 
 General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church. He 
 was elected Clerk of the Presbytery and Synod of New 
 York in 1841, and Director of the Theological Seminary 
 at Princeton in 1842, and was appointed President of 
 that Board in 1866. He was a member of the Board 
 of Foreign Missions from its organization till his death. 
 His published works consist of about a dozen occa- 
 sional sermons, which are marked by great energy^ 
 perspicuity and precision. 
 
 Though Dr. Krebs, during the greater pai't of his 
 ministry, enjoyed vigorous health, he was, at different 
 periods, afflicted by great nervous prostration, and in 
 two instances — in the summer of 1853, and of 1865 — he 
 crossed the ocean, and spent several months in travelling, 
 in Great Britain and on the Continent, with a view to 
 
37 
 
 his I'estoration ; and in both cases his object was in a 
 good degree accomplished. Those who were present at 
 the meeting of the Board of Directors at Princeton, in 
 1866, when he was chosen President of the Board, will 
 remember how hale and vigorous he then appeared, and 
 with how much ease, energy and dignity he performed 
 the duties of the office to which he was at that time 
 appointed. But in the course of the summer following, 
 he began to decline, and, after a protracted process of 
 decay, in respect to both mind and body, he passed on 
 to mingle in brighter scenes on the 30th of Septem- 
 ber, 1867. 
 
 His Funeral was attended on "Wednesday, the 2d of 
 October, by a large concourse of ministers and others, 
 filling the Brick Presbyterian Church. The Eev. Dr. 
 Dickinson and the Rev. Dr. Spring delivered Addresses, 
 and Drs. Imbrie, Snodgrass, Campbell, and McElroy, 
 participated in the services. His coffin was decorated 
 with flowers, three beautiful crowns being laid upon it. 
 The remains were removed to Newburgh, N. Y., for 
 interment.