have
not slipped too far to the right or to the left.

To find the answer one would naturally consult our church formulas and
constitutions. According to Dr. Walther's "Pastorale," the candidate for
admission to a "Missouri" church must be a truly converted and
regenerated Christian. The General Council requires that the candidate
shall have been admitted to the Lord's Supper and shall accept the
constitution. The Synod of New York requires that candidates be
confirmed, accept the Augsburg Confession, lead a Christian life, obey
the constitution and any other regulations that may hereafter be
adopted.

From this it seems that "Missouri" is the only body that emphasizes the
_interna virtus_. The others place the emphasis upon conformity with
certain outward forms and requirements.

But we cannot always judge from the printed constitution. To bring the
information up to date, and to ascertain the actual usage of the
churches, the author obtained from forty pastors of this city an account
of their practice. Some of their replies will be embodied in this
chapter.

Theoretically we enter the church through baptism. Practically, for most
Lutherans, confirmation is the door of admission.

This rite is a comparatively new measure among us. Prior to the
eighteenth century it had only a limited use in the Lutheran Church, and
it has attained an inordinately prominent place. Spener was among the
first to recognize its practical value, and its beautiful ritual made a
strong appeal to the popular imagination. It is one of the ancient
ceremonies to which we do not object if it is properly used.

Now tell us, you who make so much of confirmation and so little of
catechization, seeing that you are content with six months of the
latter, in adopting a rite which Spener and the Pietists introduced into
the church, have you also adopted the principles which governed Spener
and the Pietists in the practice of confirmation? Their object in
catechization and confirmation was conversion. "A stranger visited my
class one day," says Spener. "The next day he called to see me and
expressed his great pleasure with my instruction. 'But,' said he, 'this
instruction is for the head. The question is how to bring the head to
the heart.' And these words he repeated three times. I will not deny
that they made such an impression upon me that for the rest of my days
I shall not forget them."

We are not advocating extravagant ideas of conversion, o