66. Decades of Indifferentism.--After the abortive efforts at
establishing a union seminary and uniting with the Reformed organically,
and after her withdrawal from the General Synod in 1823, the
Pennsylvania Synod passed through a long period of indifferentism before
the spirit of Lutheran confessionalism once more began to manifest
itself, chiefly in consequence of influences from German Lutheran
immigrants and by the activity of such men as Drs. Krauth and Mann.
However, even till the middle of the nineteenth century the symptoms of
reviving Lutheranism in the Pennsylvania Synod were but relatively weak,
few, and far between. The Agenda of 1842 still contained the union
formula of distribution in the Lord's Supper and revealed a unionistic
and Reformed spirit everywhere. A form of Baptism savors of Pelagianism
and Rationalism. The Agenda does not contain a single clear and
unequivocal confession of the Lutheran doctrine of the real presence.
The second form for celebrating the Lord's Supper states: "As we are
sensual creatures, He [Christ] has appointed two external, visible
elements, bread and wine, as tokens (Pfaender), as it were, in order by
them to assure us that with, in, and under them (mit, bei und unter
denselben) we should become partakers of His body and blood, that is,
of His entire grace of atonement. As surely, therefore, as a penitent
communicant receives the blessed bread and the blessed cup, so surely
he, in a manner invisible, will also receive from his Savior a share in
His body and blood." (_Lutheraner_ 1844,47; 1846,61.81.) In 1848 Rev.
Weyl, of Baltimore, the arch-enemy of confessional Lutheranism and
unscrupulous slanderer of Wyneken, Reynolds, etc., declared in his
church-paper that within the whole Synod of Pennsylvania there were
hardly ten preachers who, in their faith and teaching regarding the
doctrine of the Lord's Supper, deviated from the views of the General
Synod. Dr. Walther remarked with respect to this statement, which he was
inclined to regard as mendacious: "Since the [Pennsylvania] Synod was
not ashamed to conclude its Centennial Jubilee by declaring this
miserable paper [of Weyl] its organ and thereby publishing to the world
its spiritual death [as a Lutheran Church], it serves her right to have
this man write her epitaph." (_L_. 1848, 31.) Concerning the new
hymn-book of the Pennsylvania Synod, Rev. Hoyer wrote in _Kirchliche
Mitteilungen:_ "After a closer inspection I found that this hymn-book
was compiled for three classes of people, Orthodox, Unionists, and
Supranaturalists. Here we find, besides 'Es ist das Heil uns kommen
her,' also 'Religion, von Gott gegeben,' as well as a hymn for the
national holiday, the 4th of July, imploring the Lord to give us the
spirit of Washington." (1850, 91; _L_. 7, 65.) _Der Lutherische Herold_,
which, edited by H. Ludwig, appeared since April, 1851, in New York,
represented the class of German Lutherans within the Ministeriums of
Pennsylvania and New York then most advanced in their protestations of
Lutheranism. But what kind of Lutheranism it was that Ludwig and his
paper advocated appears from the following quotation: "We expect little
sympathy from the Old Lutherans; yet, our endeavor shall always be to
banish from our columns everything that might increase the breach, _for
in doctrine we are one, we only differ in the form, of the dress_, that
is to say, in practise, and in the mode and manner of spreading the
doctrine." (_L._ 1, 151; 8, 143.) In January, 1855, the same paper was
complimented by the _Reformierte Kirchenzeitung_ as follows: "The
_Lutherische Herold_, published by H. Ludwig, endeavors to mediate
between the two extremes in the Lutheran Church of this country, and
represents the milder Melanchthonian conception of the Sacraments. We
read the _Herold_ with joy, and wish it a recognition and encouragement
commensurate with its services." (_L_. 11, 102.) As late as 1851 the
Pennsylvania Synod, according to the report of the convention in that
year, 51 ministers being present, maintained fraternal intercourse with
the Reformed, United, Methodists, and Moravians. She admitted Reformed
and Presbyterian preachers as advisory members. Synod had also received
a Reformed minister as such into her ministerium. She assembled in
Reformed and Presbyterian churches for union services, and attended the
service in a Methodist church. She also adopted the resolution to enter
into more intimate relations with the Moravians. (_L_. 1852, 138.) In
the following year Synod returned to its original confessional position
in the days of Muhlenberg, though in a somewhat equivocal manner.
(Spaeth, _W. J. Mann_, 171.) In 1853, however, at the same time
appealing to all Lutheran synods to follow her example, the Pennsylvania
Synod resolved, by a vote of 54 to 28, to reunite with the General
Synod, then rapidly approaching its lowest water-mark, doctrinally and
confessionally, its leading men openly and uninterruptedly denouncing
the doctrines distinctive of Lutheranism and zealously preparing the way
for the Definite Platform as a substitute for the Augsburg Confession.
Indeed, the Pennsylvania Synod added to its resolution on the reunion
that, "should the General Synod violate its constitution, and require of
our Synod assent to anything conflicting with the old and
long-established faith of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, then our
delegates are hereby required to protest against such action, to
withdraw from its sessions, and to report to this body." (Penn. Minutes
1853, 18.) However, the action as such was tantamount to a violation and
denial of the Lutheran Confession. Dr. Walther remarked with respect to
the union: "This event will be hailed by many with great joy, a joy,
however, that we are unable to share in in any measure. . . . For who
does not see that the Synod [of Pennsylvania], by entering into
ecclesiastical union with a body notoriously heterodox, has already
departed from, and actually denied, the good Confession of our Church?"
(_L_. 9, 122.) Confirming the correctness of this statement, the
Pennsylvania Synod, thirteen years later, when the ranks of her
conservatives had materially increased, severed her connection with the
General Synod.
67. Dr. Sihler's Estimate.--In 1858 Dr. Sihler wrote concerning the
Pennsylvania Synod: "When the writer of this article, more than fourteen
years ago, came to this country and gradually informed himself on the
American conditions of the Lutheran Church, he had to observe with
heartfelt sorrow that the Pennsylvania Synod, then still undivided and
very numerous, in whose territory or vicinity the leaders of the
so-called Lutheran General Synod have their field of labor was so
completely indifferent toward the shameful apostasy of the latter from
the faith and the Confession of the Lutheran Church. For in vain one
looked for a strong and decided testimony in any of the synodical
reports of this church-body against the pseudo-Lutherans of the General
Synod. Nor was there to be found within the Pennsylvania Synod, or in
other synods not belonging to the General Synod, so much earnest zeal
and love for the truth of God's Word and of the Confessions of the
Church, nor did it have any men among its theologians who were able to
expose thoroughly in the English language the error, the hollowness and
shallowness of the miserable productions of a Schmucker and Kurtz, who
were made Doctors of Theology by God in His wrath and by Satan as a joke
and for the purpose of ridicule. On the contrary, they seemed to be not
a little impressed with the theological learning and dogmatical science
of these two so-called Doctors, who, in rare self-satisfaction, found
life and complete happiness in Reinhard's supernaturalism. In short,
these open counterfeiters, Calvinists, Methodists, and Unionists, these
base traitors and destroyers of the Lutheran Church, were and always
remained the dear brethren, who contributed not a little to the
prosperity and welfare of the dear 'Lutheran Zion.' Accordingly, it did
not require a gift of prophecy when the writer of this article, as early
as 1844, foretold in the _Lutherische Kirchenzeitung_ [edited by Schmidt
in Pittsburgh] that, in differently observing, as they did, the
anticonfessional, church-destroying activities of the so-called General
Synod, yea, fraternizing with their leaders, they would become their
prey, as was actually the case several years ago." (_Lehre u. Wehre_
1858, 137.)