Charles Rudolph Demme was born on April 10, 1795 at Mühlhausen in Thüringen, Germany. He was the son of Hermann Gottfried and Frederika (König) Demme. His father was an eminent Lutheran divine, Superintendent in Mühlhausen and later General Superintendent in Altenburg.
Demme studied at the Gymnasium in Altenburg and at the Universities of Gottingen and Halle.
Demme was wounded in the battle of Waterloo, and a scar across nose and cheek served as a lesser, although life-long, reminder of that 18th of June.
His friends in the United States believed that it was his experiences as a soldier that turned his thoughts from the law to the ministry and made him decide to leave Germany for America. Whatever his inner life may have been, the young man who came to Philadelphia in 1818 and sought ordination from the Lutheran Ministerium of Pennsylvania proved to be a sound surate with his achievement.
After ministering for three years to several congregations in Hummelstown, Pennsylvania, and its vicinity, he was called in 1822 to the historic St. Michael’s and Zion’s Church in Philadelphia as assistant to Frederick David Schaeffei.
After his father-in-law’s retirement in 1834 Demme was sole pastor until 1850, when William Julius Mann, who in turn was to succeed him, became his assistant. By virtue of his scholarship but still more by virtue of his personality Demme became the most influential man in the Ministerium, and his influence continued even after his own career had ended. His one independent book was Die Werke des Flavius Josephus, a revision of the German translation by J. F. Cotta and A. F. Gf Rorer with variorum notes drawn from many sources, but this was less important than his editorial work on the Lutheran Liturgic und Kirchenagende. The conservative Lutheranism of his theological position did much to arrest the Methodistic tendencies of many Pennsylvania Lutherans.
Since he preached in German, only a few of his sermons were printed.
His sermons were primarily logical in their appeal, but so charged with emotion was the preacher that at times tears would roll down his cheeks, though his voice never faltered or quavered. He was a close student of Reinhard in German, Bourdaloue in French, and South in English. Overwork brought on a mental breakdown from which he never recovered; he was made pastor emeritus in 1859; and his last years passed in all but complete darkness.
To the end he prayed and read the Bible and would cry softly when he heard the bell of his church on Sunday mornings.
On October 7, 1828 Demme married Schaeffer’s only daughter, Mariana. Of their eleven children only five survived him.
