621 



[Muhlenberg. 



camp, by the "god of the silver bow." Hundreds of such polished shafts 

 were sent, with convincing and controlling power, during each week of 

 the period of his editorship of the " Lutheran and Missionary." 



Brought thus to the front, by his studies, and his positions of influence, 

 he was not long in realizing the dream of his early ministerial life, if we 

 are right in our supposition, for in the j^ear 1864, he was elected to the 

 position of " Norton Professor of Systematic Theology and Ecclesiastical 

 Polity," in the Theological Seminary of the Lutheran Church, in Phila- 

 delphia. He had now ample time and opportunity for exercising his 

 skill in theological dialectics. Additional articles of the same kind were 

 published, with those which had appeared at an earlier period ; and the 

 culmination of his work in this department took place, when he prepared 

 and gave to the world, in a grand volume, his " Conservative Reforma- 

 tion," to which allusion has already been made. 



This volume demands more than a passing notice, for it is the noblest 

 monument of his vast theological learning and dialectical skill, immense 

 acquaintance with the whole field of literature, and of his intense lore 

 for the faith and church of his forefathers. Besides this, it has other 

 points of interest. One of these is stated by the distinguished author 

 himself in the preface. In the Lutheran Cliurch, both of the Fatherland 

 and this country, there have always been two parties ; one more liberal 

 in the interpretation of the Confessions ; the other more strict, allowing 

 no deviation, in the smallest particulars, from the standards of belief. The 

 Doctor, with great candor, acknowledges, as is known to most of the 

 older ministers of our Church, that he once occupied a position entirely 

 divergent from the views he defends, in this splendid volume. Thus he 

 speaks: "No man can be more fixed in his prejudice against the views 

 here defended, than the author himself once was ; no man can be more 

 decided in his opinion, that those views are false than the author is now 

 decided, in his faith, that they are the truth. This decided change from 

 laxity, to strict conformity with the old Lutheran faith, as it is sometimes 

 called, was permanent with him, and he maintained it with unvarying 

 consistency, until his departure from the Church Militant to the Church. 

 Triumphant. Again, the author shows that he has changed his views 

 with sufficient reason, for all the prominent doctrines of the Lutheran 

 Church, as presented in the Augsburg Confession, are discussed with 

 great skill and independence of judgment, and in connection with this 

 chief symbol, the subsequent ones are not overlooked. It is a complete 

 defence of the whole system, with that independent survey of the field 

 for himself, for which the author was noted, for he could truthfully quote, 

 as applicable to himself, the sentiment of the Roman poet : "Nullius ad- 

 dictus jurare in verba magistri." 



The subjects of Baptism, Original Sin and the Lord's Supper, receive 

 the most extended and varied discussion, because the most difficult, and 

 the most frequently assailed by others. It is not generally known, that 



