Ministerium. And when, under the
influence of Quitman, the New York Ministerium became rationalistic, the
Pennsylvania Synod made no protest, administered no rebuke, and did not
sever its fraternal relations with it. Moreover, in a measure, they
opened their own doors to Rationalism; the German language was regarded
as being of greater import than faithful adherence to the Lutheran
Confessions; and refuge against the inroads of Rationalism and the
English language was sought in a union with the German Reformed and the
German Moravians. The utter degeneration of the Pennsylvania Synod
appears from the new Agenda, concerning which Synod resolved in 1818
that it be introduced in all German congregations of the Ministerium.
In this Book there were embodied also forms designed to satisfy the
Rationalists. Two of the forms for administering the Sacrament of
Baptism contained no confession of faith. The confession to the
Lutheran Church was stricken from the form for Confirmation. In two of
the forms for the administration of the Lord's Supper the Union formula
of distribution was employed, _viz_., "Jesus says: Take and eat--Jesus
says: Take and drink ye all of it," etc. The second form contained the
following general invitation: "In the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord and
Master, I say to all who acknowledge Him as their Savior, and are
determined to be His faithful followers: You are welcome at this Feast
of Love." (669.) The second formula for burials had a rationalistic
tang. And the formulas of ordination and licensure no longer demanded
adherence to the Lutheran Confessions. (669.)

60. Intrenching behind the German Language.--The Christian Church,
hence also the Lutheran Church, views every language, Hebrew, Greek, and
Latin, as well as German and English, not as an end, but always as a
means only toward furthering her real end, the regeneration and
salvation of souls. According to Loehe's _Kirchliche Mitteilungen_ of
1845, No. 5, a German emigrant wrote shortly after his arrival in
America: "I cannot sufficiently thank God for the grace bestowed upon
me; for when I for the first time heard the language of Canaan
[English], the language of the New Jerusalem, I was immediately and
deeply moved by the Spirit of God and was caught like tinder." This was
certainly not the attitude of the German Lutheran ministers of the
Pennsylvania Synod, some of whom, going to the other extreme, were in
danger of viewing the English, as co