meyer as chairman. Its first and only convention of which we have
record was held at Raritan, August 20, 1735; nine congregations were
represented by delegates. The chief business of Synod was to settle a
quarrel between Wolff and his congregations, one of the charges
preferred against the pastor being that he read his sermons instead of
delivering them from memory ("statt aus dem Haupte zu predigen"). Peace
was restored, but temporarily only. Berkenmeyer continued his ministry
in Loonenburg for twenty years. Like other Lutheran divines of his day,
the Swedes and Salzburgers not excepted, he kept two slaves, whom he
himself united in marriage in 1744. Also during his declining years
Berkenmeyer experienced much sorrow. His end came on August 26, 1751.
The closing words of his epitaph are: "He has elected us in Christ
before the foundation of the world; there is therefore now no
condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus." In the same year Knoll,
who, owing to disputes arising from the language question, had been
compelled to resign at New York, took charge of the Loonenburg
congregation and continued there until 1765.

25. Berkenmeyer's Sturdy Lutheranism.--Though not clear in some points
and, at times, rigorous in discipline, Berkenmeyer stood for a sound and
decided Lutheranism. His orthodoxy appears from the very library which
he selected and brought with him for the congregation in New York,
consisting of twenty folios, fifty-two quartos, twenty-three octavos,
and six duodecimos, among them Calovius's _Biblia Illustrata_,
Balduinus's _Commentarius in Epistolas S. Pauli_, Dedekennus's
_Consilia_, Huelsemann's _De Auxiliis Gratiae_, Brochmand's _Systema,
etc_. Owing to his staunch orthodoxy, Berkenmeyer also had an aversion
to the Pietists, and refused to cooperate with Muhlenberg and his
colaborers from Halle. He disapproved of, and opposed, the unionistic
practises of the Swedish and Halle pastors. Speaking of Berkenmeyer's
pastorate in New York, Dr. Graebner remarks: "In a firm and faithful
manner he had preserved for himself and his congregation, both in
doctrine and practise, a staunch Lutheran character, which banished the
very thought of fraternizing with the heterodox. At the same time,
though a German theologian and commanding an easy, flexible, and
forceful Latin, he was a genial Dutchman among his Dutch parishioners,
perfectly adapting himself to their manners." (186.) He was firm and
consistent, but no