America, 1728, had been active in mission-work among the Lutherans in
Pennsylvania, a labor which he zealously continued till his sudden death
in 1779, while confirming a class at Lebanon. Stoever's aversion to
Pietism at first kept him from uniting with Muhlenberg. It was 1763,
fifteen years after its organization, before he became a member of the
Pennsylvania Ministerium. Concerning Stoever and the Agenda of 1748,
Muhlenberg relates the following: "We were minded to employ the very
words of our Lord Jesus: Take and eat; this is the body of Jesus Christ,
etc. Take and drink, this cup is the New Testament in the blood of
Christ, etc. At the baptism of children it was our intention to ask the
sponsors, or godparents: Do you renounce in the name of this child,
etc.? To this the opponents [Stoever, Wagner, and their adherents]
objected strenuously before we had finished. We therefore made a change
immediately and used the words which their terrified consciences
desired, _viz_.: This is the _true body_, etc.; this is the _true
blood_, etc., and in the formula of baptism: Peter, Paul, or Maria, dost
thou renounce, etc.?" Graebner comments as follows: "If the Wagners and
Stoevers [whom Muhlenberg severely censured in 1748] had committed no
other crimes but that of compelling the 'united preachers' [from Halle]
to take a decided Lutheran position, one might wish that their influence
had extended still farther." In the following year, 1749, however, the
Pennsylvania Synod changed the formula of baptism so that the sponsors
were asked, "Do you renounce (believe) in the name of this child, etc.?"
(Graebner, 327.)

HENRY MELCHIOR MUHLENBERG.

39. Self-sacrificing Halle Emissaries.--The help which Pastor Schulz
and his laymen had requested from Halle in 1734 arrived nine years
later. Francke's hesitation with regard to questions of salary, etc.,
drew the matter out until Muhlenberg declared himself willing to accept
the call to America without further conditions. He was the instrument
whereby it pleased God to preserve the Lutheran Church in America from
complete deterioration and disintegration and from the imminent danger
of apostasy through Zinzendorf. Muhlenberg (Muehlenberg) was born at
Eimbeck, Hannover, September 6, 1711. In 1738 he graduated from
Goettingen. He spent one year teaching in the Orphan Home at Halle, and
served a congregation in Upper Lusatia from 1739 to 1741. In 1741 he
also published his only work, a def