ith 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 D