the
present union of the two churches, which, however, every true Christian
will wish to be indissoluble, has its origin in enlightened ideas or in
worldly interest, in brotherly love or in indifference." (528.) Kunze's
pupil, G. Strebeck, who had been called to preach English in the Old
Congregation, organized an English Lutheran Church instead, and in 1804,
with a part of his English flock, united with the Episcopal Church. The
English congregation now called as its pastor a man who had been
excommunicated from the Presbyterian Church on account of Chiliasm, who,
in turn, was succeeded by a former Methodist preacher, under whom, in
1810, the entire congregation followed Strebeck into the Episcopalian
fold.

28. Reformation Jubilee in 1817.--In the mother congregation Kunze,
who died 1807, was succeeded by F. W. Geissenhainer. When the latter
was no longer able to supply the growing need for English services, F.
C. Schaeffer was called in his stead, with the duty expressly imposed
upon him of preaching also in English. In 1817, at the tercentenary of
the Reformation, Schaeffer arranged a great celebration in which he was
assisted by an Episcopalian, a Reformed, and a Moravian pastor. _Dr.
Spaeth:_ "Here also [in America, as in Prussia] a great Reformation
Jubilee was celebrated in 1817. Here also it was, in the first place,
of a unionistic character. The Ministerium of Pennsylvania invited the
Moravians, Episcopalians, Reformed, and Presbyterians to unite with
them in this celebration. In the city of New York the eloquent Lutheran
pastor, F. C. Schaeffer, having kept the jubilee in the morning with his
own congregation, delivered an English discourse in the afternoon in St.
Paul's Episcopal Church on the text, 'I believe, therefore I have
spoken.' Thousands were unable to find admittance to the service, so
great was the throng." (_C. P. Krauth_, 1, 322.) Rejoicing in the
growth of unionism, Schaeffer said in his sermon: "In Germany, the
cradle of the Reformation, the 'Protestants' are daily becoming more
united in the bond of Christian charity. Whilst the asperities, which
indeed too often affected the Great Reformers themselves, no longer
give umbrage; whilst the most laudable and beneficial exertions are
universally made by evangelical Christians to remove every sectarian
barrier, the 'Evangelical Church,' extending her pale, becomes more
firmly established. And though we have melancholy evidence that the
state and