f the members of the United Synod to
have present the brethren of those bodies, to dwell together in goodly
fellowship for a little season. Every heart was glad to feel that we
were one in the faith and usage of the Evangelical Lutheran Church."
Also with respect to the United Synod the Merger in 1918 came as a ripe
fruit of the cordial relations which had been cultivated for decades.
One of the chief bonds of union during this period was the Common
Service, for which the United Synod justly claimed to be entitled to
special credit. The first impulse for such a unity in service came from
H.M. Muhlenberg. In a letter of November 5, 1783, four years before his
death, he expressed the desire "that it would be a most delightful and
advantageous thing if all the Evangelical Lutheran congregations in
North America were united with one another by using the same order of
service." Among others who later entertained the same wish was Charles
Philip Krauth. In a letter to his son, April 2, 1857, he said: "Whilst
I am anxious for such an agreement in regard to a doctrinal basis as
will embrace all the wings of Lutheranism in our country, I very much
wish we could agree on forms of worship in accordance with the
liturgical character of our Church, and erect a barrier against the
Fanaticism and Methodism which so powerfully control some of our
ministers and people." (Spaeth, _C.P. Krauth_, 1, 380.) _The English
Liturgy_ (1860), the _Church Book_ (1868), and the _Kirchenbuch_ (1877)
of the Pennsylvania Synod and the _Book of Worship_ of the General
Synod, South, may be regarded as preliminary steps toward the
realization of this wish.

156. Cooperation of General Bodies.--In a letter to the convention of
the General Synod South, at Winchester, Va., 1870, Dr. Bachman of
Charleston, four years before his death, expressed it as the strongest
desire of his heart that all English-speaking Lutherans should have a
common service. Pursuant to, and in accordance with, this request the
General Synod South in 1874 elected a committee to prepare "The Common
Service for the Use of Evangelical Lutheran Congregations." In 1876
Synod proposed negotiations on this matter with the General Synod and
the General Council. The General Council, in 1879, resolved to
cooperate, "provided the rule which shall decide all questions in its
[Common Service] preparation shall be: The common consent of the pure
Lutheran liturgies of the sixteenth century, and, when