Pastor Wyneken's First Service in Baltimore

Pastor Wyneken during his time in Baltimore

"The following incident . . . is related of Rev. Mr. [Friedrich Conrad Dietrich] Wyneken, when he took charge of the [Second Evangelical St. Paul's] German Church in Baltimore [since closed], previously served by the Rev. Mr. Haesbaert:

"On the Sunday immediately following his installation, the Lord's Supper was to be celebrated. The preparation of the altar had been intrusted to the sexton. Wyneken's consternation may be more readily imagined than described, when, in the confessional service, he appeared before the sacramental table and instantly perceived, that in this place the Holy Supper had assuredly never yet been administered after the manner of the truly Lutheran Church! There was the wine in a huge earthen jug, and on the plate were wafers and bread side by side [a distinctive practice of Union (Lutheran-Reformed) congregations]. What was to be done ?

"He immediately called the deacons into the sacristy and explained to them, that the congregation is not Lutheran at all; that in extending a call to him he had been deceived; that he could not distribute the sacrament! The good people were filled with surprise and confusion, declared that they had not been aware that they were not purely Lutheran, and requested him to act in the case in accord with his conscience as a Lutheran Pastor. They thereupon urgently entreated him to distribute the Sacrament once more in the manner to which the people had hitherto been accustomed, for the purpose of avoiding the very great dissatisfaction that would otherwise arise among the communicants who were present.

"Under existing circumstances Wyneken likewise regarded this as the better course, and acted accordingly. After the sermon, however, he requested the congregation to remain in the church for a short time after the close of the service. And now he declared in the presence of the people, that he had not found them to he a Lutheran, but much more a unionistic congregation, and that therefore the best course for them to pursue would probably be, to dismiss him immediately; that, in case he should remain among them, he would certainly occasion many disturbances and dissatisfactions in the midst of such a mixed multitude.

"The congregation, however, would not consent to his going away, but was decided in its desire that he should remain. "Well, then," said Wyneken, "I will begin on next Sunday to take both the Lutheran and Heidelberg Catechisms with me into the pulpit, and will read from and explain both; then each one will have the opportunity of knowing and judging for himself as to which side has and confesses the complete truth of the divine word!" This, accordingly, was the course that Wyneken subsequently pursued. He explained from both catechisms the distinction between the Lutheran and Reformed doctrines; he rebuked the practice hitherto observed in administering the Lord's Supper, and showed from the Scriptures, that Reformed and Lutherans cannot possibly be members of one and the same congregation, inasmuch as every congregation that desires to act with true Christian candor and uprightness cannot adopt and adhere to more than one confession.

"This course resulted in a fearful storm in the congregation. The Reformed maintained that they had been betrayed, and the greater number of them did not even have the forbearance patiently to hear Wyneken's explanations ; and among the Lutherans also, they found erring friends who criticised the course of the new Pastor, and desired to have the former state of affairs retained. Not in the congregational meetings only, but also on the streets and in the homes of the people, lively and often bitter disputations took place. Many children of Reformed parents had become Lutherans; others were intermarried with Lutherans; accordingly daughters stood opposed to their mothers and husbands to their wives. It was a time of visitation; but the truth gained the victory. The Reformed left the congregation (on a single Sunday more than eighty names were announced from the pulpit of persons who severed their connection with the congregation) and built a German Reformed Church on Calvert street. It was self-evident that they regarded Wyneken as their enemy, and quite a length of time elapsed before the excitement that had arisen subsided."

Quoted from John G. Morris, Fifty Years in the Lutheran Ministry (Baltimore: 1878), pages 360-361.