This portrait by George “Bucky” Walters was given to the Rev. Thomas H. Jenkins, Pastor of the Spring City United Methodist Church, in 1983.  Mr. Walters stated that the pastor’s character was so much like General Muhlenberg who was called the “fighting Parson” by friends, and “Devil Pete” for his excellent strategy and furious attacks on the enemy.

Profile of JOHN PETER GABRIEL MUHLENBERG

Born – 1746, Trappe, Pennsylvania
Ordained – 1772, London, England
Commissioned – 1775, Colonel Eighth Virginia Regiment
Brigadier General – 1777, Virginia Line
Major General – 1783, United States Army
Member of House of Respresentatives, 1791 – 1795
U.S. Senate – 1801
Collector of Port of Philadelphia – 1803
Died – 1807 – Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Buried – Trappe, Pennsylvania

EXCERPTS FROM THE FAREWELL SERMON
March 20, 1776 – Woodstock, Virginia
Text taken from Ecclesiastes, Third Chapter

“I am a Clergyman it is true, but I am a Member of Society as well as the poorest Layman and my liberty is as dear to me as any man.  If I were a Bishop, a Lutheran Bishop, I cannot sit idol by while the best blood of this continent is being spilled for my liberty.  There is a time to pray, a time to preach, and a time to fight, and the time to fight has now come.”