American Lutheranism, Volume 2
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Title: American Lutheranism, Volume 2
Author: F. Bente
Release date: January 15, 2008 [eBook #24304]
Language: English
Other information and formats: www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/24304
Credits: Produced by one of Myra Eve Bodling's grandfathers
*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AMERICAN LUTHERANISM, VOLUME 2 ***
Produced by one of Myra Eve Bodling's grandfathers. Readers
should note that, despite remarks in the Preface, the
planned vols. 3 and 4 never appeared in print. Volume 1
is Project Gutenberg EBook #20941.
American Lutheranism
VOLUME II
The United Lutheran Church
(General Synod, General Council, United Synod in the South)
By
F. BENTE
St. Louis, Mo.
CONCORDIA PUBLISHING HOUSE
1919
PREFACE.
American Lutheranism will appear in four volumes, this present second
volume to be followed by the first, dealing with the early history of
Lutheranism in America.
The third volume will present the history of the Ohio, Iowa, Buffalo,
and the Scandinavian synods.
The fourth volume will contain the history and doctrinal position of the
Missouri, Wisconsin, and other synods connected with the Synodical
Conference.
As appears from this second volume, our chief object is to record the
facts as to the theological attitude of the various Lutheran bodies in
America, with such comment only as we deemed necessary.
As to the quotations from the _Lutheran Observer_ and other English
periodicals, we frequently had to content ourselves with retranslations
from the German in _Lehre und Wehre_, _Lutheraner_, etc.
Brackets found in passages cited contain additions, comments,
corrections, etc., of our own, not of the respective periodicals quoted.
If errors, no matter of whatever nature they may be, should have crept
in anywhere, we here express our gratitude for corrections made.
Further prefatory and introductory remarks will accompany Vol. I, which,
_ Deo volente_, will go to the printers forthwith.
F. Bente, Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, Mo.
May 28, 1919.
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
THE UNITED LUTHYERAN CHURCH.................1-11
Merger.........................................1
Constitution...................................5
Character......................................9
THE GENERAL SYNOD.........................12-175
Organization..................................12
Character.....................................19
Constitution..................................22
Evaluation....................................25
Doctrinal Basis...............................32
Basis Interpreted.............................40
Unionism......................................48
Union Letter of 1845..........................58
Christian Union...............................63
Theology Reformed.............................68
Revivalism....................................76
"American Lutheranism"........................89
Definite Platform Controversy................101
Position of District Synods toward Platform..111
General Synod's Attitude toward Platform.....117
York Convention..............................123
Secessions and Separations...................130
Influential Theologians......................136
Missouri's Influence.........................153
Explanatory Statements of Doctrinal Basis....158
Restatement of Basis.........................161
Actual Conditions............................166
Un-Lutheran Practise.........................170
THE GENERAL COUNCIL......................176-227
Synods Composing the Council.................176
Charles Porterfield Krauth...................181
Other Representative Theologians.............187
Constitution.................................190
Subtile Unionism.............................195
The Four Points..............................198
Akron-Galesburg Rule.........................202
Interdenominational Fellowship...............204
Attitude toward Lodges.......................207
Chiliasm.....................................210
Other Aberrations............................212
Romanism.....................................214
Synergism....................................217
Liberalistic Trends..........................220
Equivocal Doctrinal Attitude.................224
THE UNITED SYNOD SOUTH...................228-243
Organization.................................228
Doctrinal Basis..............................229
Indifferentism...............................232
Un-Lutheran Practise.........................234
Tennessee and Holston Synods.................236
Common Service...............................241
The United Lutheran Church.
MERGER.
1. Origin of the New Body.--On April 18, 1917, at Philadelphia, the
Joint Quadricentennial Committee, appointed by the General Synod, the
General Council, and the United Synod in the South to arrange for a
union celebration of the Reformation, decided that the merging of the
three affiliated general bodies would be "the fittest commemoration and
noblest memorial of the four-hundredth Reformation Jubilee." Accordingly,
the presidents of these bodies, being present, were requested to form a
joint committee, which should prepare a constitution for a united Church
and present the same to the three general bodies for their consideration,
and, if approved, for submission to the District Synods. The
constitution, framed by the committee, was in the same year adopted by
all of the three general bodies, the General Synod, which, in 1820, had
been founded for the express purpose of uniting all Lutheran synods in
America, being the first to assent to the Merger during its session at
Chicago, June 20 to 27, 1917. The various District Synods also having
approved of the union and having ratified the constitution, the Merger
was consummated at New York City, November 15, 1918. Dr. F. H. Knubel, a
member of the General Synod, was elected President of the new body--
"The United Lutheran Church in America." Of the total number of
Lutherans in America (63 synods, 15,243 congregations, 9,790 pastors,
2,450,000 confirmed and 3,780,000 baptized members) the United Church
embraces 45 synods, 10 theological seminaries with 46 professors and 267
students, 17 colleges, 6 academies, 3,747 congregations and
mission-posts, 2,754 pastors, almost 1,000,000 baptized members, and
758,000 confirmed members, the General Synod contributing 364,000, the
General Council 340,000, and the United Synod in the South 53,000. The
United Church is the second largest Lutheran body in America, the
Synodical Conference outnumbering it by only about 50,000 confirmed
members. The merged bodies will continue to exist legally until no
property rights are imperiled. In 1919 it was decided to consolidate the
_ Lutheran_, the _Lutheran Church Work and Observer_, and the _Lutheran
Church Visitor_. The new church-paper will be _The Lutheran_, with Dr.
G. W. Sandt as editor-in-chief.
2. Refusing to Enter the Merger.--The United Lutheran Church,
according to the _ Lutheran_, "has inaugurated a new era of progress for
our beloved Lutheran Church. . . . Three names have gone down, but a new
and greater name has arisen from their ashes." This, however, was not
the view of the Iowa and Augustana synods, though both indirectly,
through their connection with the General Council, had for years been in
church-fellowship also with the General Synod, hence, consistently might
have entertained scruples to join the Merger no more than the Council.
When, at Philadelphia, October 25, 1917, the General Council passed on
the Merger, Dr. M. Reu, the representative of the Iowa Synod, was the
only delegate (advisory) who voted against it. Pointing especially to
the fact that the General Synod, at its last convention in Chicago, had
elected as president a man [Dr. Geo. Tressler] who was publicly known to
be a Mason of a high degree, Dr. Reu warned against the union, as it
would practically mean the abandonment of the Council's position on
pulpit- and altar-fellowship, as well as on the lodge-question. The
_Kirchenblatt_ of the Iowa Synod: "It is apparent that the influence of
the General Synod on the General Council has paralyzed the practical
principles of the fathers, and that the contemplated Merger is
tantamount to an anulment of these principles, as far as the official
practise of this new church-body will come into question. And yet, just
this life, the ecclesiastical life and practise of the ministers and
congregations, is the mirror in which the real confessional attitude may
be seen. We [Iowa] owe much to the General Council, and will always
remember this gratefully, but now our roads separate and we must part.
American [?] Lutheranism [?], [tr. note: sic] which the General Synod
has always stood for, and which has had its adherents also in the
General Council, especially among its nativistic representatives, will
control also the new church-body. This, according to our understanding,
means that a far-reaching influence of a Reformed nature will manifest
itself, especially with respect to church-practise and the attitude
toward all manner of societies and antichristian lodges." (_Lehre und
Wehre_, 1917, 521. 572.)
3. Withdrawal of the Augustana Synod.--For more than a decade prior to
the Merger the current within the Swedish Augustana Synod had been
running against the General Council. Accordingly, to the Augustana Synod
the contemplated union was an occasion rather than a cause for refusing
to join the movement and for severing her connection also with the
Council. Indeed, at the convention of the General Council at
Philadelphia, October 25, 1917, all of the Augustana representatives had
cast their votes for the new organization. At her last convention, June
8, 1918, however, the Synod, in spite of the most strenuous efforts on
the part of the delegates of the General Council to draw her into the
union, passed the resolution: "_Resolved_, That the Augustana Synod does
not at this time see its way clear to enter the proposed merger of the
United Lutheran Church in America, but declares itself in favor of a
federation of Lutheran church-bodies in North America." A subsequent
resolution severed her connection with the Council. The reasons advanced
by the Augustana Synod for her action were not of a doctrinal or
confessional nature, but rather pertained to the interest of her
peculiar work among the Swedish population of our country. Yet the
course chosen by the Augustana Synod was, at least part, the result also
of the secret fear that the new body would rapidly sink to the level of
the doctrinal and practical laxism of the General Synod. Warning against
the Merger, the _Lutheran Companion_, of the Augustana Synod, wrote: "We
must hold ourselves aloof from spiritual fellowship with such churches
or denominations, some of whose factors advocate and defend lodgism,
dancing as a pastime for the young people under the auspices and
sanction of the church, etc." (_L. u. W._, 1917, 522.) Disappointed on
account of the withdrawal of the Augustana Synod, the _Lutheran_, of the
General Council, commented: "The Augustana Synod has subordinated unity
of faith to unity of race. This is as un-American as it is un-Lutheran,
and the day of its real Lutheran union is thereby indefinitely postponed.
. . . We are persuaded that this separation was willed by man and not by
God, though we also believe that He will, in the end, overrule it for
good. . . . The Augustana Synod has missed its opportunity; it has
limited the sphere of its influence; it has placed synodical and social
interests as a clog in the wheel of the Lutheran Church's progress as a
whole, and set the Church back a generation or more to start afresh on
the pathway to its ultimate goal. . . . Lutherans are now to be fenced
off into social groups to be known as the Swedish, the Norwegian, the
German, and the English divisions of the Lutheran forces in this
country." (_L. u. W._, 1917, 522; 1918, 329 ff.)
4. Attitude of the Ohio Synod.--Though representatives also of the
Ohio Synod served on the Joint Quadricentennial Committee in order to
arrange for a union celebration of the Reformation together with the
representatives of the General Synod, the Council and the United Synod
South, the official organs of the Ohio Synod were severe in condemning
the Merger. The _Lutheran Standard_, August 4, 1917: "There are chiefly
two practical differences that keep us apart, namely, that concerning
altar- and pulpit-fellowship and that concerning the lodge. Concerning
the first point the constitution [of the Merger] has nothing to say
whatever. Relative to lodge-membership, the general body will have only
advisory power." The _Kirchenzeitung_, of the Ohio Synod, May 12, 1917:
"The great and glorious work of Dr. Krauth in the Council has been
nullified. The General Synod's practise of fraternizing with the sects
will prevail. What is sound and good in the Council will crumble; the
proposed union is a great victory for the lax portion of the General
Synod and a pitiable defeat for the Council. Indeed, we shall be told
about the 'salt' that the Council may be in the new body, but that is an
old, old game, which cannot fool people any more. And this to celebrate
the Reformation Jubilee! Would that Luther could return and with the
thunder of his scorn shatter this celebration of his work! Where
unionism has its jubilee, all true Lutherans turn away in sorrow and
anger." (_Luth. Witness_, 1918, 406.) However, considering that pulpit-
and altar-fellowship, where-ever justified, clears the way for all other
external unions, and that Ohio representatives served on the
Quadricentennial Committee for a union celebration of the Reformation,
the above criticism, warranted though it be, will hardly be viewed as
consistent.
CONSTITUTION.
5. Doctrinal Basis.--The Constitution of the United Lutheran Church
provides: "Article II: Doctrinal Basis. Section 1. The United Lutheran
Church in America receives and holds the canonical Scriptures of the Old
and New Testaments as the inspired Word of God and as the only
infallible rule and standard of faith and practise, according to which
all doctrines and teachers are to be judged.--Section 2. The United
Lutheran Church in America accepts the three ecumenical creeds; namely,
the Apostles', the Nicene, and the Athanasian, as important testimonies
drawn from the Holy Scriptures, and rejects all errors which they
condemn.--Section 3. The United Lutheran Church in America receives
and holds the Unaltered Augsburg Confession as a correct exhibition of
the faith and doctrine of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, founded upon
the Word of God; and acknowledges all churches that sincerely hold and
faithfully confess the doctrines of the Unaltered Augsburg Confession to
be entitled to the name of Evangelical Lutheran.--Section 4. The
United Lutheran Church in America recognizes the Apology of the Augsburg
Confession, the Smalcald Articles, the Large and Small Catechisms of
Luther, and the Formula of Concord as in the harmony of one and the same
pure Scriptural faith."--"Article IV. Section 2. Any Evangelical
Lutheran synod applying for admission which has accepted the
Constitution with its Doctrinal Basis, as set forth in Article II, and
whose constitution has been approved by the Executive Board, may be
received into membership by a majority vote at any regular convention."
6. Further Confessional Statements.--Among the other sections of the
Constitution expressing directly or indirectly the confessional and
doctrinal attitude of the new body are the following: "Article VI:
Objects. The objects of the United Lutheran Church in America are: . . .
Section 1. To preserve and extend the pure teaching of the Gospel and
the right administration of the Sacraments. (Eph. 4, 5, 6; the Augsburg
Confession, Art. VII.) Section 2. To conserve the unity of the true
faith (Eph.4, 3-16; 1 Cor. 1, 10), to guard against any departure
therefrom (Rom. 16, 17), and to strengthen the Church in faith and
confession. Section 3. To express outwardly the spiritual unity of the
Lutheran congregations and synods, to cultivate cooperation among all
Lutherans in the promotion of the general interests of the Church, to
seek the unification of all Lutherans in one orthodox faith, and thus to
develop and unfold the specific Lutheran principle and practise, and
make their strength effective."--"Article VIII: Powers. . . . Section
6: As to the Maintenance of Principle and Practise. The United Lutheran
Church in America shall protect and enforce its Doctrinal Basis, secure
pure preaching of the Word of God and the right administration of the
Sacraments in all its synods and congregations. It shall also have the
right, where it deems that loyalty to the Word of God requires it, to
advise and admonish concerning association and affiliation with
non-ecclesiastical and other organizations whose principles or practises
appear to be inconsistent with full loyalty to the Christian Church"
[weak and misleading, if Freemasons and similar lodges are meant; the
more so, as quite a number of the clergymen in the Merger are lodgemen];
"but the synods alone shall have the power of discipline" [conflicts
with principle of unity in doctrine and practise].--"Article III.
Section 7. In the formation and administration of a general body the
synods may know and deal with each other only as synods. In all such
cases the official record is to be accepted as evidence of the doctrinal
position of each synod, and of the principles for which alone the other
synods are responsible by connection with it." This section, according
to which the new body assumes responsibility only for the official
doctrine and practise of the District Synods as such, but declines to
answer for what the congregations, pastors, and laymen may teach and
practise, unduly limits the responsibility for false doctrine and
practise, conflicts with the Scriptural rule of Christian fellowship,
and stamps the United Church as unionistic.--"Article VIII: Powers.
Section 5: As to Doctrine and Conscience. All matters of doctrine and
conscience shall be decided according to the Word of God alone." [What
of sections 2, 3, and 4 of Article II on Doctrinal Basis?] "If, on
grounds of doctrine or conscience, the question be raised as to the
binding character of any action, the said question shall be referred to
the Commission of Adjudication. Under no circumstances shall the right
of a minority be disregarded, or the right to record an individual
protest on the ground of conscience be refused."--"Article XII:
Commission of Adjudication. Section 1. A Commission of Adjudication
shall be established, to which shall be referred, for interpretation and
decision, all disputed questions of doctrine and practise, and this
commission shall constitute a court for decision of all questions of
principle or action arising within the United Lutheran Church in America,
and which had been properly referred to it by resolution or by appeal of
any of the synods. . . . Section 4. The consent of at least six members
shall always be necessary for a decision." According to this article,
unanimity in questions of doctrine and practise is not required--a
violation, once more, of the principle of Christian unity!
7. A Legislative Body.--Among the doubtful paragraphs of the
Constitution are also the following: "Article III. . . . . Section 6.
Congregations representatively constituting the various synods may elect
delegates through their synods to represent them in a general body, all
decisions of which, when made in accordance with the Constitution,
_bind_, so far as the terms of mutual agreement make them binding, those
congregations and synods which consent to be represented in the general
body."--"Article VIII: Powers. Section 4. If synods have had due and
legal opportunity to be represented in the conventions of the United
Lutheran Church in America, they are _bound_ by all resolutions that
have been passed in accordance with this Constitution; but each synod
retains every power, right, and jurisdiction in its own internal affairs
not expressly delegated to the United Lutheran Church in America."--
"Section 7: As to Books of Devotion and Instruction, etc. The United
Lutheran Church in America shall provide books of devotion and
instruction, such as liturgies, hymn-books, and catechisms, and no synod
_without its sanction_ shall publish or recommend books of this kind
other than those provided by the general body."--"Article XIV: Synods.
Section 1. No synod in connection with the United Lutheran Church in
America shall alter its geographical boundaries _without the permission_
of the general body." According to the sections quoted, the United
Lutheran Church is not a mere advisory, but a legislative body.
8. Relations with Non-Lutherans.--According to the _Lutheran Church
Work and Observer_ the question of cooperation with other than Lutheran
bodies is left open by the constitution of the United Lutheran Church.
Construed in its historical context, this means that the United Church
tolerates, and does not disapprove of, fraternal intercourse with the
sects. The Constitution provides: "Article VI: Objects. The objects of
the United Lutheran Church in America are. . . . Section 7: To enter
into relations with other bodies in the unity of the faith, and to
exchange official delegates with them."--"Article VIII: Powers.
Section 1: As to External Relations. The United Lutheran Church in
America shall have power to form and dissolve relations with other
general bodies, organizations, and movements. To secure uniform and
consistent practise, no synod, conference, or board, or any official
representative thereof, shall have power to independent affiliation with
general organizations and movements." Does this and the preceding
section refer also to non-Lutheran movements, organizations, and bodies,
such as the Federal Council, of which the General Synod was a member? In
the _Lutheran Church Work and Observer_, January 3, 1918, Dr. A. Pohlman
suggested that the "Merger idea be enlarged so as to include all
Protestant denominations, in order to get better known in America,
increase our prestige and influence, and take a more decided interest in
the affairs of the world." "We can well afford," says he, "to rub out
some of those things which conceded to be secondary." More contact with
the other denominations would obliterate much of the "foreign" from our
Lutheranism, and make us an "American Lutheran Church."
CHARACTER.
9. Actual Position of the New Union.--The Merger did not come as a
surprise, for the uniting bodies, being of a common origin, had for a
long period occupied essentially the name position as to doctrine and
practise, exchanged delegates, and cooperated in various ways. Nor was
it accompanied by any essential change in the doctrinal or practical
attitude of any of the synods and congregations now constituting the new
body. Yet it will be admitted that, by merging, the General Synod,
constitutionally, made a confessional stride forward, while, as to their
official attitude toward Lutheran practise, the United Synod in the
South, and especially the General Council, took a step backward. For the
level and measure of the new Union will naturally be that of the most
liberal of the united bodies, _viz._, the actual present, practical as
well as doctrinal, position of the synods which constitute the General
Synod. According to the Preamble of the Constitution the object of the
Merger was "to make the inner unity, which we" [the official bodies as
such] "have with one another manifest in common confession, defense, and
maintenance of the faith, and in united efforts for the extension of the
Kingdom of God at home and abroad." However, the new Union was not the
result of any discussions of, and subsequent agreements and settlements
in, any doctrinal or practical differences. The "inner unity" of the
merging bodies themselves, especially of the General Synod, never was a
real agreement in the truth, but rather an agreement to disagree with
respect to Lutheran doctrines and practise. The United Church was not
born of real inner Lutheran unity of the spirit, but of the desire of
external union, in spite of the lack of real doctrinal agreement. The
Merger is in more than one way a concession to the original unionistic
spirit of the General Synod. Especially the absence, in the Constitution,
of a paragraph directed against pulpit- and altar-fellowship with
non-Lutherans, and of a definite and satisfactory statement pertaining
to antichristian societies, cannot but be viewed as an _ex professo_
lowering of the Lutheran standard to the laxism always prevailing in the
General Synod. The real doctrinal and confessional position of the
United Lutheran Church, apart from the merits and demerits of its
Constitution, is, in the last analysis, not so much determined by its
official declarations as by the actual conditions prevailing in its
synods and congregations. The real standpoint of a Church is not the one
written and subscribed to on paper, but which manifests itself in her
actual teaching, life, and practise. Judged, then, by what the merging
bodies actually were immediately prior to their union, the real United
Lutheran Church in America is not nearly on a par with what its
doctrinal basis would seem to warrant. G. A. Tressler, the former
president of the General Synod, said in the _Lutheran_, November 7,
1918: "My hope and wish is that, as far as the United Lutheran Church
is concerned, it may merge our best and submerge the rest." What of this
"best"? And what is "the rest"? The history of the three merging bodies
will tell.
10. National Lutheran Council.--According to Article VI, Section 3 of
the Constitution, it is the object of the United Lutheran Church "to
cultivate cooperation among all Lutherans in the promotion of the
general interests of the Church; to seek the unification of all
Lutherans in one orthodox faith." The ultimate goal of the United
Lutheran Church self-evidently is the organic union of all Lutheran
synods and congregations of this country as "The Lutheran Church in
America," or, at least, "The Federated Lutheran Church in America." "The
National Lutheran Council," organized September 6, 1918, in Chicago, is,
no doubt, viewed by many as a stepping-stone to, and a means for the
attainment of, this end. The United Lutheran Church, says the
_Philadelphia Seminary Bulletin_, "is but part of a larger movement in
the direction of Lutheran unity and activity for which we thank God and
take courage. Illustrations of this are: The National Lutheran
Commission for Soldiers' and Sailors' Welfare, The National Lutheran
Council, and the proposed Central Lutheran control of all American
Lutheran Foreign Missions." (1919, 2, p. 4.) The objects of the National
Lutheran Council are: statistical information; publicity in all matters
that require common utterance by the Lutheran Church; representation of
our Church in its relation to entities outside of itself; dealing with
the problems arising out of war and other emergencies; the solution of
problems arising from social, economic, intellectual, or other
conditions, or changes affecting religious life and consciousness; the
fostering of true Christian loyalty and the maintenance of a righteous
relation between Church and State as separate entities with correlated,
yet distinctly defined functions; provision through the National
Lutheran Commission for the spiritual welfare of the people who are
living and working in the 24 "War Production Communities," part of which
work is to be done in cooperation with other denominations; to serve in
solving the problems of the Lutheran Church in European countries where
the war has upset political, social, and religious conditions; to adjust
matters on the Home Mission field, in order to restrict and stop
destructive competitive church-work; to discourage, ignore, and abandon
public polemics among Lutherans; to prepare a statement defining the
essentials of a catholic spirit as viewed by the Lutheran Church. With
the exception of the Synodical Conference (always wary of entangling and
unionistic alliances), practically all of the Lutheran synods in America
are connected with the National Lutheran Council. (_L. u. W._, 1919, 86
ff.) A meeting of the presidents and representatives of various Lutheran
bodies, culled by the National Lutheran Council and held in Chicago,
March 11 to 13, 1919, adopted a number of statements on reconciliation,
absolution, the means of grace, justification, faith, conversion and
election. However, these declarations, though, as far as they go,
apparently not in dissonance with the Lutheran confessions, cover
neither all the doctrines controverted in our Church, nor all of the
disputed points involved in the doctrines dealt with at Chicago. With
respect to lodgism the Conference resolved: "We promise each other that
it shall be our earnest purpose to give a fearless testimony, and do our
utmost to place our respective church-bodies in the right Christian
position in this matter." (_Lutheran_, March 27, 1919.) The results
attained by the Conference will be referred for approval to the bodies
represented: United Lutheran Church, Joint Synod of Ohio, Iowa Synod,
Buffalo Synod, Augustana Synod, United Danish Synod, Norwegian Church,
Free Church.
The General Synod.
ORGANIZATION.
11. Discouraging Beginnings.--The oldest Lutheran synods of America
are the Ministerium of Pennsylvania, organized 1748; the New York
Ministerium, 1786; the Synod of North Carolina, 1803; the Joint Synod of
Ohio, 1818; the Synod of Maryland and Virginia, 1820; and the Tennessee
Synod, 1820. They embraced about 35,000 members, over one-half of them
belonging to the Pennsylvania Synod. On October 22, 1820, at Hagerstown,
Md., four of these synods organized as the "General Synod of the
Evangelical Lutheran Church in the United States of America," with David
Kurtz of Baltimore as president. According to its preamble the
Constitution was adopted by the following synods: "The German
Evangelical Lutheran Synod of Pennsylvania and the neighboring States,
the German and English Evangelical Lutheran Synod in the State of North
Carolina and the bordering States, the Evangelical Lutheran Ministerium
in the State of New York and the neighboring States and countries, and
the Evangelical Lutheran Synod of Maryland, Va., etc." (_Proceedings,_
1829, 49; 1839, 47.) The Pennsylvania Synod was represented by 5 pastors
and 3 delegates, the New York Ministerium by 2 pastors, the North
Carolina Synod by 2 pastors, and the Maryland Synod by 2 pastors and 1
delegate. Since 1811 C. A. Stork (Storch) and especially Gottlieb Shober
(Schober, a Moravian, serving Lutheran congregations) of the North
Carolina Synod had been prominent among the promoters of the general
body. The "Mother Synod" of Pennsylvania, which at the same time was
planning a union with the Reformed, took the initiative in the movement.
At the convention at Harrisburg, 1818, they declared it "desirable that
the various Lutheran synods should stand in closer connection with each
other," appointed a committee to prepare a feasible plan of union, and
invited the different synods to send representatives to her next meeting
in Baltimore, 1819, where the contemplated Lutheran, union was the
principal topic of discussion. A tentative constitution, drafted by
Shober and a committee of the Pennsylvania Synod, was approved with 42
against 8 votes and published over the signatures of its officers,--
the so-called _Planentwurf_, which, in a somewhat modified form, was
adopted 1820 at Hagerstown as the Constitution (_Grundverfassung_) of
the General Synod. At the first regular convention of the new body, held
at Frederick (Fredericktown, Friedrichstadt), Md., in October, 1821,
twenty delegates were present, representing the synods of Pennsylvania,
North Carolina, and Maryland-Virginia. It was a beginning fraught with
discouragements. Owing to religious indifference, the rationalistic New
York Ministerium had immediately permitted its connection to lapse, till
resumed in 1837. The Tennessee Synod violently condemned the new body as
hierarchical, and because its constitution did not so much as mention
the Bible and the Augsburg Confession. The Ohio Synod, which, in 1819,
after a discussion of the _Planentwurf_, had approved of the formation
of a General Synod, now stood aloof, because a number of her ministers
denounced its Constitution, not for confessional reasons, but because of
its alleged hierarchical features. (Graebner, _Geschichte_ 1, 701.) In
1823 the Pennsylvania Synod declared her withdrawal on account of the
union planned with the Reformed, and because some of her congregations,
fearing infringements of their liberties, protested against the
connection. It was due chiefly to the exertions of S. S. Schmucker, then
but twenty-five years of age, that the second regular convention, 1823,
in Frederick, was held, the newly organized West Pennsylvania Synod
forming the third body required by the constitution.
12. From the Early Proceedings.--The report of 1823 closes as follows:
"On bended knees, and with hearts filled with holy emotion, the brethren
then united with the Rev. J. G. Schmucker in a most impressive address
to the mercy-seat of Christ, in an acknowledgment of the gratitude for
the past blessing of the great Head of the Church, and in humble
supplication for the future guidance of His Holy Spirit. And when they
had sung an hymn, they separated to return to their several abodes."
(8.) Regarding the withdrawal of the Pennsylvania Synod, the resolution
was adopted: "Resolved, That it is with feelings of deepest regret that
we learn from the minutes of the Synod of Pennsylvania that they were
induced by peculiar circumstances, for the present, to recede from an
institution which they aided in establishing, and which they still
profess to regard as proper and highly beneficial to the interests of
the Church; but that this Synod entertain the highest confidence in
their brethren of Pennsylvania, and confidently trust that they will
without delay resume their connection with the General Synod." (5.)--
The "Address of the General Synod to the Evangelical Lutheran Church in
the United States," added to the Minutes of 1823, remarks: "Whilst the
General Synod, with due deference to the judgment of this respectable
Synod, cannot divest themselves of doubt as to the expediency of the
temporary recession of the Pennsylvania Synod from the general union of
the Lutheran Church, they rejoice that in the very act of withdrawing
they declare their unaltered conviction of the propriety and utility of
such a union, and intimate that their recession shall continue only
until the prejudices against the General Synod shall in some measure
have subsided. But, most of all, the General Synod rejoiced in the
measures which have already been taken by the brethren west of the
Susquehanna, among whose churches these prejudices do not exist, to
return to the general union of the Lutheran Church." (11.)The minutes of
1823: "Several delegates were absent in consequence of indisposition,
but a representation of a majority of the synods in connection with the
General Synod being present, the brethren, in reliance on the guidance
of the Holy Spirit, proceeded to business." (4.) With respect to the
fears expressed by Tennessee that the establishment of a General Synod
would endanger both the Lutheran and American liberties, the "Address"
of 1823 states: "The brethren of this Conference [Tennessee], as well as
individuals in some other sections of the United States, have heretofore
doubted the utility of the General Synod; but it is hoped their
apprehensions will be dissipated when a few years of experience shall
have demonstrated its utility, and when maturer reflection on the nature
of our constitution shall have convinced them that, if ever our Church
at large should so far degenerate as that a majority of any future
General Synod should not only be so void of common Christian integrity,
but so destitute of every sentiment of probity and honor, as to wish
those evils which have been feared, still even then the attainments of
them would, in our happy government, be physically and civilly
impossible." (14.) Repudiating the charge of the Tennessee Synod that
the object of the General Synod was an amalgamation with other
Protestant denominations, and urging the Carolina and Tennessee Synods
to cover their doctrinal differences by charity, the "Address" continues:
"Whilst the General Synod disclaim the intention which has perhaps,
through want of better knowledge, sometimes been attributed to them,
namely, to form a union of different denominations, one object at which
they aim certainly is to prevent discord and schism among the different
portions of the Lutheran Church. It is therefore with much pleasure that
they perceive that the Carolina Synod adopted measures at their last
session to bring about, if possible, a reconciliation with several
brethren [Tennessee Synod], who had seceded from them. And the General
Synod cannot forbear recommending to both parties the exercise of that
charity, toleration, and forbearance which were so illustriously
exemplified in the life of our divine Redeemer, and urging on them the
impressive declaration of His Apostle: 'Follow after charity'; 'Charity
suffereth long and is kind,' 'seeketh not her own, is not easily
provoked'; 'charity beareth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all
things.' Therefore we beseech you, brethren, by the mime of our Lord
Jesus Christ, 'that there be no divisions among you, but that ye be
perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.'"
(12.)
13. Vigorous Growth Following Disappointments.--During the period of
1831 to 1864 a large number of district Synods joined the General Synod.
The Hartwick Synod, organized 1830 in Schoharie Co., N.Y., by seven
pastors who had separated from the New York Ministerium in order to
satisfy more fully their craving for revivals, was admitted by the
General Synod in 1831; in 1908 it merged in the New York Synod. The
South Carolina Synod, organized 1824, entered the General Synod in 1835.
The New York Ministerium returned 1837. The Synod of Virginia, organized
in 1829 by eight ministers and two lay delegates and confessing the
Unaltered Augsburg Confession, was admitted by the General Synod in 1839.
The Synod of the West, embracing Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois, and
Missouri, of which Wyneken was a member till 1845, was organized in 1835
and united with the General Synod in 1840. In 1846 this body was divided
into three parts; one called the Synod of the Southwest, located in
Kentucky and Tennessee, another called the Synod of Illinois, located in
the State of Illinois, and the third retaining the name of the Synod of
the West, located in Indiana.(_Proceedings_, 1848, 47.) The East Ohio
Synod, since 1836 a separate English branch of the Ohio Synod, united
with the General Synod in 1841. The East Pennsylvania Synod, founded
1842 by nine ministers withdrawing from the Pennsylvania Ministerium,
who advocated the use of the English language, revivals, and greater
liberty in the form of worship, was received by the General Synod in
1842. The Allegheny Synod, organized 1842 by ministers and congregations
of Western Pennsylvania, united in 1843. The Southwest Virginia Synod
was also admitted in 1843. The Miami Synod was organized 1844 in Ohio
and joined the General Synod in 1845. The Illinois Synod, a descendant
of the Synod of the West, was organized 1846 and joined the General
Synod in 1848. When, in 1867, this Synod was dissolved, the greater
part amalgamated with the Illinois District of the Missouri Synod. The
Wittenburg Synod, organized 1847 in Ohio, was admitted 1848. This body
was led by Ezra Keller and S. Sprecher, professors of Wittenberg
College, Springfield, O. The Olive Branch Synod of Indiana and adjacent
parts was organized in 1848 and received into the General Synod in 1850.
In 1894 the Middle Tennessee Synod united with the Olive Branch Synod.
Its device is an olive branch upon an open Bible; its motto: "In
necessariis unitas, in dubiis libertas, in omnibus caritas." The
Pennsylvania Synod reunited with the General Synod in 1853. The Texas
Synod, organized 1851 by Rev. Braun (sent by Dr. Passavant) and eight
ministers from St. Chrischona, joined the General Synod in 1853, the
General Council in 1868, and in 1895 the Iowa Synod as its Texas
District. The Synod of Northern Illinois, organized 1851 by English,
German, Norwegian, and Swedish ministers in Illinois, Iowa, and
Wisconsin, was also admitted in 1853. The Pittsburgh Synod, the
so-called "Mission Synod," whose policy was largely shaped by W. A.
Passavant, was organized in 1845 and admitted by the General Synod in
1853. In 1867 it joined the General Council. The Kentucky Synod and the
Central Pennsylvania Synod, which was organized in the year 1855, joined
the General Synod in 1855. The Synod of Northern Indiana, organized 1855,
the Synod of Iowa, organized 1852, and the Synod of Southern Illinois,
organized 1856, were received in 1857. In 1897 the Synod of Southern
Illinois united with the Synod of Central Illinois as Synod of Central
and Southern Illinois. The Melanchthon Synod was admitted in 1859; the
Franckean Synod, organized 1837, and the Synod of Minnesota, organized
1860, in 1864. The Minnesota Synod joined the General Council in 1867
and in 1872 the Synodical Conference.
14. Secessions and Accessions.--The title "General Synod" was for the
greater part of her history descriptive of, not what the General Synod
was, but what she desired to become. In a letter to Solomon Henkel,
dated January 23, 1826, Henry Muhlenberg remarks: "Of the seven Lutheran
synods only three belong to the General Synod, and yet its
representatives assume the name 'The General Synod of the Lutheran
Church in the United States'!" In 1829 there were 74 ministers in the
synods connected, and 123 in the synods not connected, with the General
Synod. In 1834, of 60,971 Lutheran communicants the General Synod had
20,249 and the Ministerium of Pennsylvania 26,882. In 1860 the Lutherans
in America numbered 245,000 communicants, about two-thirds of whom
belonged to the General Synod, then embracing 26 district synods with
1,313 pastors and 164,000 communicants. The following decade, however,
marked a heavy decrease. Owing to unguarded resolutions with respect to
the Civil War, the Southern Synods withdrew, and in 1863 organized the
General Synod South. In 1866 the oldest and strongest synods seceded and
immediately formed the General Council. The consequent numerical loss
was more than 200 pastors and 76,000 communicants. After these reverses
a number of smaller synods acceded to the General Synod. In 1867 the
Susquehanna Conference, formed in 1845 and belonging to the East
Pennsylvania Synod, organized as Susquehanna Synod and resolved to unite
with the General Synod. Susquehanna University, at Selinsgrove, is
located in her bounds. The Synod of Kansas, organized in 1868 by
ministers and laymen in Kansas and Missouri, was received 1869. Midland
College and the Western Theological Seminary are upon its territory. The
German Wartburg Synod united 1877. It had been organized 1875 by the
German Conference of the Synod of Central Illinois formed at the
dissolution of the Illinois Synod in 1866 by ministers who remained
loyal to the General Synod, among them Severinghaus, the editor of the
_Lutherischer Kirchenfreund_. The _Kirchenfreund_ was succeeded by the
_Lutherischer Zionsbote_, established in 1896 as a joint organ of the
German Wartburg and Nebraska Synods, representing at the same time the
German interests of the entire General Synod. The German Nebraska Synod
was organized in 1890 and admitted by the General Synod in 1891. Its
congregations are located in Nebraska, Kansas, Missouri, Colorado, and
the Dakotas. The Wartburg and Nebraska Synods received a part of their
ministers from Breklum and Chrischona. As to pulpit- and
altar-fellowship and lodge-membership, the Wartburg and Nebraska Synods
have not been as liberal as the English Districts of the General Synod.
The Rocky Mountain Synod, embracing the territory of Wyoming, Colorado,
and New Mexico, was organized in 1891; the California Synod in 1892. The
New York Synod was admitted in 1908. In 1859 seven English pastors,
withdrawing from the New York Ministerium, formed the Synod of New
Jersey. Again in 1866, on account of the withdrawal of the Ministerium
of New York from the General Synod, fifteen ministers separated and
organized the Synod of New York. In 1872 both united as Synod of New
York and New Jersey. This body, in 1908, merged with the Hartwick,
Franckean, and Melanchthon Synods, thus forming the present Synod of New
York. Prior to the Merger in 1918, when the whole Lutheran Church in
America embraced 2,450,000 confirmed and 3,780,000 baptized members, the
General Synod ranked third in size among the general bodies. It reported
474,740 baptized members, 364,000 communicants, 1,857 congregations,
with 1,426 pastors. Apart from a number of benevolent institutions and
colleges, the General Synod maintained theological seminaries in
Hartwick, N.Y.; in Gettysburg, Pa.; in Springfield, O.; in Selinsgrove,
Pa.; in Atchison, Kans.; in Lincoln, Nebr.; in Breklum, Germany. In 1825
S. S. Schmucker was elected professor of Gettysburg Seminary. He served
till 1864. The school was opened in September, 1826, with ten students.
In 1830 E. L. Hazelius entered as second professor. In 1833 he was
succeeded by Charles Philip Krauth, who served till 1867. Among the
succeeding professors were H. I. Schmidt, 1839-43, Hay, Brown, C. F.
Schaeffer, C. A. Stork, Valentine, Richard, Singmaster. The General
Synod supported foreign missions in Liberia and India. "Father" Heyer, a
scholar of Helmuth, was the pioneer American Lutheran missionary in
India. The chief periodicals are _The Lutheran Quarterly_ (now Vol. 42)
and the _Lutheran Church Work and Observer_. The _Lutheran Observer_,
which merged into the last named organ in 1916, was established in 1831
by Morris and edited by B. Kurtz from 1833 till 1861.
CHARACTER.
15. Object Not Unity, But Union.--In the _Lutheran Observer_,
January 2, 1863, H. Harkey wrote: "Some say that unity must precede
union. But the Bible demands that we unite. Hence those who magnify
these differences [among Lutherans] and endeavor to keep us separate are
the greatest sinners in the Church." This has always been the view of
the General Synod: union, irrespective of doctrinal differences. But,
while striving after true unity in the Spirit is always and everywhere
of divine obligation, external organic union is not an end _per se_
divine. And while efforts at organic union, even at their best, always
remain a matter, not of Christian duty, but of Christian wisdom and
liberty, all endeavors at union which disregard the divine norm of
Christian fellowship are anti-Scriptural. At the organization of the
General Synod, however, the sole ambition was to unite the whole
Lutheran Church in the United States in a well-organized and imposing
body. The object was not unity, but governmental union. Dr. Valentine
said in 1905: "Though the primary object of its organization was not
confessional, but practical, looking to fellowship and cooperation on
the basis of acknowledged Lutheran standing, the General Synod at once
placed a positive Lutheran basis under its practical work." (_Luth.
Cycl._, 193.) The fact is that the question whether the uniting bodies
were truly Lutheran and in doctrinal agreement was neither asked, nor
investigated, nor presupposed, but simply ignored. W. M. Reynolds said
in 1850: "The constitution of the General Synod does not present a
system of doctrine, a confession of faith. On the contrary, this
constitution itself confesses that it was drafted 'only for purposes of
government and discipline,' and expressly denies the right 'to any
General Synod to make changes in matters of faith which in any way might
burden the consciences of brethren.'" (_Lutheraner_, April 30, 1850.)
16. Conceived in Indifferentism.--Unionism and indifferentism mark the
character of the General Synod from its very beginning. And how could
this have been otherwise? The un-Lutheran spirit of the General Synod
was not so much acquired as inherited. The Pennsylvania Synod, while
promoting the Pan-Lutheran union, was at the same time planning a union
with the Reformed! In 1819 and 1822 resolutions were passed to this
effect. And before this, in 1792, the same Synod had adopted a
constitution in which the Lutheran Symbols were not even mentioned. One
of the reasons for severing her connection in 1823 was the fear that the
General Synod might prove an obstacle in the way of the contemplated
Lutheran and Reformed union. In the New York Ministerium Socinianism
ruled supreme. Quitman, for twenty-one years its president, permitted
rationalists only in his pulpit, and in 1814, with the consent of his
synod, he published a catechism denying the deity and atonement of
Christ. F. C. Schaeffer, of New York, in a letter to the convention at
Baltimore, 1819, urged the Pennsylvania Synod "to leave nothing undone
that might serve, in a proper way, to bring about a union of the
different Lutheran synods in the United States." But in the same breath
he proceeds: "It is also desirable that another object, of gravest
importance, should be duly considered--a closer union between the
Lutheran and Reformed churches in our States. In this laudable and truly
evangelical cause our brethren in Germany [Prussian Union, 1817] have
set us an excellent example . . . as the Lutherans and Reformed in
Germany are united in one Evangelical Church, and are no longer
separated as different churches, but form one fold, the true Germans in
America will, in this respect, try to imitate the Germans in Germany."
(Spaeth, _C.P.Krauth_, 1, 323.) In North Carolina, where the
rationalistic Catechism of Velthusen was used, conditions were no
better. Shober, of the North Carolina Synod, who served on the committee
appointed for the drafting of the _Planentwurf_, and exerted himself to
the utmost in the interest of the Lutheran union, was a Moravian, who,
though serving Lutheran congregations, harbored Reformed views and
reveled in the prospective dawn of the grand union of all Protestant
denominations, to which, according to his views, the General Synod was
to serve as a stepping-stone. Accordingly, the aim of the General Synod
neither was, nor could be, confessional unity, but, _ad intra_, a mere
external organic union, irrespective of doctrinal differences, and _ad
extra_, a unionistic intercourse with the Reformed and other Protestant
denominations. And throughout its history this has remained the
paramount object of the General Synod. In accordance with this policy
she has made concessions in both directions, as required by expedience
and the circumstances, to doctrinal laxism as well as to Lutheran
confessionalism, the latter especially during the last decades. Union
was always the primary, true unity hardly ever even a secondary
consideration. The plan, however, of sacrificing, in a merger with the
Reformed, its own identity as an independent Lutheran body was never
directly adopted by the General Synod. It was, partly, in this interest
that, in 1862, at Lancaster, the General Synod resolved "that as the
erection of Union Churches is not always productive of Christian union
and brotherly love, but rather of strife and contention, we recommend to
all our ministers and people to build no more such churches." (18.) In
its address of 1823 the General Synod "disclaimed the intention to form
a union of different denominations." (12.) If by "union" they meant a
merger, then the General Synod throughout its history has remained true
to the declaration of 1823. For, though always encouraging some sort of
union with all evangelical denominations, the General Synod as such has
never taken a stand in favor of an amalgamation with these bodies.
CONSTITUTION.
17. Features of the Constitution.--The charge of Romanism, made
especially by the Tennessee Synod against the General Synod, was not
without foundation. The _Planentwurf_ of 1819 provides: "Until, however,
the formal permission and consent has been granted by the General Synod,
no new established body shall be recognized among us as a ministerium,
and no ordination performed by it as valid." This section was omitted in
the constitution adopted 1820. The _Planentwurf_ of 1819 furthermore
provides: "The General Synod has the exclusive right, with the consent
of a majority of the special synods, to introduce new books for general
public use of the churches, as well as to make emendations in the
liturgy." (Graebner, _Geschichte_, 1, 691 f.) This section was embodied
in the constitution of 1820. According to Article III, Section 2, of the
Constitution adopted in 1820, the General Synod reserves for itself the
right of approving all such books and writings "as a catechism, form of
liturgy, collection of hymns, or confession of faith," proposed for the
use of the church. "No synod," the section prescribes, "and no
ministerium connected with the General Synod shall therefore publish for
public use any new book or writing of the kind mentioned without
previously having submitted a complete copy to the General Synod, and
heard her opinion, or criticism, or advice in the matter. Whenever the
General Synod shall deem it proper, they may propose to the special
synods and ministeriums new books or writings of the kind mentioned
above for general or special public use. The special synods and
ministeriums also shall duly heed a proposal of this kind, and if any
one of them should not consider such a proposal appropriate, it is to be
hoped that the reasons will be given to the next General Synod, in order
that they may be entered in the minutes of the General Synod."
(_Proceedings_, 1829, 51.) In the amended constitution of 1835, Article
III, Section 2, eliminating the objectionable features, reads as
follows: "Whenever the General Synod shall deem it proper or necessary,
they may propose to the special synods or ministeriums new books or
writings, such as catechisms, forms of liturgy, collections of hymns for
general or special public use in the church. Every proposal of this kind
the several or respective synods may duly consider; and if they, or any
of them, shall be of opinion that the said book or books, writing or
writings, will not conduce in the end proposed, they may reject them,
and adopt such liturgical books as they may think proper."
(_Proceedings_, 1839, 48.) The first report to the General Synod on the
state of the Gettysburg Seminary begins as follows: "In presenting to
the _Supreme Judicatory of the Lutheran Church in America_ an account of
the progress of the institution so recently founded," etc.
(_Proceedings_, 1827, 13.) The constitution of 1829, framed and adopted
for and recommended to the District Synods, provides for the expulsion
and punishment of congregations that refuse to submit to the resolutions
of Synod as follows: "If a congregation heretofore connected with a
Synod should refuse to obey the resolutions of that Synod or the
precepts of this formula [constitution], it shall be excluded from the
connection with that synod as long as its disobedience lasts, and
without special permission from the president neither any other synod
nor a Lutheran pastor or candidate shall serve her." (_Proceedings_,
1829, 30.)
18. Doctrinal Features.--The _Planentwurf_ states: "The General Synod
has no power to make or demand any changes whatever in the doctrines of
faith adopted heretofore among us." In the constitution of 1820, Art.
III, Sect. 2, this was amended as follows: "But no General Synod shall
be allowed . . . to introduce such alterations in matters appertaining
to the faith, or to the mode of publishing the Gospel of Jesus Christ
(the Son of God and ground of our faith and hope), as might in any way
tend to burden the consciences of the brethren in Christ." (1829, 51;
1839, 48.) Interpreted historically, this section was evidently intended
to make the General Synod safe, not indeed for loyal Lutheranism, but,
on the one hand, for evangelicalism over against Unitarianism and, on
the other hand, for confessional indifferentism and doctrinal freedom
with respect to the distinctive doctrines of the Evangelical
denominations. A. Spaeth remarks: "The Radicals, or New-measure men, who
in their generation had not heard the Gospel preached and the faith of
the Church taught according to the pure Confession of Augsburg, might
look upon any attempt to go back to that Confession and to stand by it
as an 'alteration, and tending to burden their consciences.'" (1, 334.)
It was to serve the same indifferentistic purpose when Article III,
Section 5, declares: "The General Synod may give advice or opinion when
complaints shall be brought before them by whole synods, or
congregations, or individual ministers concerning doctrine or
discipline. The General Synod shall, however, be extremely careful that
the consciences of the ministers be not burdened with human laws, and
that no one be oppressed by reason of differences of opinion on
non-fundamental doctrines." (1829, 52; 1839, 49.) The original reading
of this section, as adopted 1820, omits the clause "on non-fundamental
doctrines" found in the constitution published in the minutes of 1829,
thus granting absolute doctrinal freedom. (Graebner, 708.) For the words
"human laws" the amended constitution of 1835 substitutes "human
inventions, laws, or devices." (1839, 49.) Dr. Spaeth: "As the bulk of
the confessional writings of the Lutheran Church was classified by the
leaders [Schmucker, Kurtz, etc.] with 'human inventions, laws, and
devices' or, at the very best, with 'non-fundamental doctrines,' any
pastor or professor might feel perfectly safe in throwing overboard the
mass of these symbolical books and their contents without fear of having
to answer for it." (334.) Article III, Section 8, evidently intended to
satisfy the craving for a closer union with the Reformed and other
Evangelical bodies, reads as follows: "The General Synod shall . . . be
sedulously and incessantly regardful of the circumstances of the times,
and of every casual rise and progress of unity of sentiment among
Christians in general, in order that the blessed opportunities to
promote concord and unity and the interests of the Redeemer's Kingdom
may not pass by neglected and unavailing." (1839, 50; 1829, 53.)--
According to Article III, Section 2, quoted in the preceding paragraph,
the General Synod claimed the right to propose to the special synods not
only catechisms, forms of liturgy, and collections of hymns, but also a
confession of faith. Appealing to this section, S. S. Schmucker, in
1855, claimed that he was within his constitutional rights in urging the
General Synod to substitute the Definite Platform for the Augsburg
Confession. Spaeth: "It was, with a good show of justice, claimed by the
American Lutheran side in the General Synod that the very constitution
of the body entitled it to make a new revision even of the Augsburg
Confession!" (335.) It was in keeping with these principles as well as
the conditions then prevailing in the Lutheran synods that the
constitution adopted at Hagerstown contained no confessional basis
whatever, not even a mere reference to the Augsburg Confession. Shober,
probably in order to obviate the charges of the Tennessee Synod, made an
effort to have a recognition of the Augsburg Confession incorporated in
the constitution, but failed. That the omission was intentional is
apparent also from the fact that the General Synod maintained its
silence in spite of the vigorous protests of the Tennessee Synod and her
refusal to join the general body, especially for the reason that neither
the Bible nor the Augsburg Confession was mentioned in its Constitution.
"With this constitution before him," says Spaeth, "the editor of the
_Lutheran Observer_, Dr. Benjamin Kurtz, in Baltimore, was right in
stating the case after this manner (_Lutheran Observer_, April 16, 1852):
'We admit that the General Synod never formally or by express resolution
repudiated or abandoned the doctrinal basis (as laid down in the
Augsburg Confession and the Catechism of Luther).' But did it ever
either formally or tacitly profess belief in that basis? What necessity
is there for a body formally to repudiate or abandon what it never
received or adopted? It is a notorious fact that the symbolic basis had
been abandoned in the Church, to a very great extent, before the General
Synod was called into existence, and at its organisation special pains
were taken to guard against all possibility of its future imposition
upon the Church. In defining the doctrinal position of the General
Synod, the manifest intention was to give to each other, and to
establish for posterity, a pledge that the doctrinal basis should never
be allowed to interfere with their consciences." (335f.)
EVALUATION.
19. Serving, in a Way, the Lutheran Church.--Apart from the name there
was nothing of genuine Lutheranism in the constitution of the General
Synod. "The name," said Dr. Mann in 1855, "is the most important
characteristic of the General Synod." "Hatte man," he continues, "dem
Leib die Knochen und die Eingeweide und das Herz herausgenommen, so
konnte man in den leeren Balg hineinschieben, was man wollte, und der
Name Lutherisch blieb ja." In a letter dated April 15, 1857, he said of
the General Synod: "Wer kann dieses mark- und kraftlose Ding, dieses
verwaschene, um jeden individuellen Zug gekommene Gesicht der
lutherischen Kirche gerne sehen?" (Spaeth, _W. J. Mann_, 174. 180.) C.
P. Krauth declared in 1845: "It cannot be denied that the name Lutherans
in this country simply states an historical fact without giving in any
case a sure index to the views, feelings, or practises of those who bear
it." (Spaeth, _C. P. Krauth_, 1, 119.) Yet, even the mere name, the mere
empty skin of Luther, was not without some value. It served as a
constant reminder of the lost crown, and kept numerous Lutherans from
joining the sects. The union of Lutherans into a general body gave a
standing to the Lutheran Church among the denominations, and thus, in a
way, strengthened the Lutheran consciousness. It diminished the
threatening danger of a merger with the Reformed in Pennsylvania and
with the Episcopalians and Presbyterians in North Carolina. And by
inserting the confession of "Jesus Christ as the Son of God and ground
of our faith and hope" into its constitution, the General Synod may also
have acted as a check on the inroads of Socinianism. Furthermore, the
General Synod created a certain interest in the Lutheran Church of
America abroad, especially in Germany, and roused her energies at home.
In 1825 the General Synod established a theological seminary at
Gettysburg, Samuel S. Schmucker being its first professor, with a free
dwelling and a salary of $500 for the first year. In the same year it
was "resolved that an agent be sent to Europe without delay, in order
to receive contributions in moneys and in books for the use of the
Seminary; and that our beloved and honored colleague Mr. Benjamin Kurtz
be such agent." (8.) The minutes of 1827 report that Kurtz had collected
$12,000. (27.) In 1837 Schmucker made a similar tour in America,
collecting from Congregationalists and others $14,917 for the Seminary
Fund. Only if Gettysburg will nourish, said I. Oswald in the Seminary
Report of 1837, "we can expect that the Gospel-trumpet will be blown
from the Wittenberg in America with the result that the Germans who have
settled in the various States and are scattered in our extended
countries (some of whom are famishing for lack of knowledge, and by
reason of circumstances are outcasts of the church) will hear and come
to adore the Lord in His holy mountain." (1837, 61.) In every direction
the General Synod developed a lively activity. In 1842, the year of the
Muhlenberg centennial jubilee, the General Synod made strenuous efforts
to raise a fund of $150,000 for its charitable institutions. (1841, 53
ff.) "What is this sum," it was said, "for a church numbering 100,000
members and more than 25,000 families? It amounts to only $1.50 for each
member, and not even $10 for every family!" In 1857 the General Synod
resolved: "That the churches in connection with the General Synod be
recommended to observe our regular ecclesiastical festivals in
commemoration of the fundamental facts of our religion, _viz._:
Christmas, Good Friday, Easter, Ascension Day, and Whitsunday, in the
hope and persuasion that by the divine blessing they will be found to
be, as they have often proved, occasions of reviving to our
congregations." (32.) In 1866 the resolution was added: "That it be
recommended to the ministers and churches in our connection to celebrate
the thirty-first of October in each year in commemoration of the
commencement of the Reformation." (42.) In 1879, the three hundred and
fiftieth anniversary of the publication of Luther's Catechism, the
General Synod resolved that we "reaffirm our appreciation of Luther's
Smaller Catechism as the best manual of instruction preparatory to
church-membership." (39.) In the same year the resolution was adopted:
"That in view of the fact that 1880 will be the semicentennial of the
Augsburg Confession, every pastor of the General Synod be requested to
preach on that subject on or near the twenty-fifth of June in that
year." (40.) The General Synod organized the "Parent Educational
Society" for assisting ministerial students; the "Central Missionary
Society" for domestic missions; the "Foreign Mission Society" for work
in India; and established a "Pastors' Fund," a book company, etc. The
General Synod was always on the alert to draw Lutherans in all parts of
the country into her circles. Thus, _e.g._, when, in 1839, the Saxons
had arrived in Missouri, the General Synod passed the resolutions: "1.
That a special committee be appointed to open a correspondence with the
companies of Lutherans recently arrived in the United States from
Germany, and represented by Dr. Charles Vehse and others, and the Rev.
Mr. Stephan; 2. that the committee write in the name of the General
Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in the United States, giving a
sketch of the history and objects of this body, with any other
intelligence which they may think it important to communicate, and
requesting of Dr. Vehse and the Rev. Mr. Stephan and their respective
associates any information which they may think proper to make relative
to their own history, their present situation, and their future
prospects." (19.)
20. Exaggerated Estimates.--After what has already been said, the
following evaluations of the General Synod will be received with a grain
of salt. In the "Pastoral Letter" of the General Synod, written in 1831
by David F. Schaeffer, we read: "No church had to contend with so great
difficulties as we have overcome by the help of God. As the English
language is the language of our fortunate country, the untiring
endeavors of our fathers to retain the knowledge of the German language
among the youth were futile. Many who spoke German were not able to read
this language. The consequences of this state of affairs were pitiable.
The religious books of the parents were of no use, and in many cases
true piety was gradually lost as well as the love for our Zion. In the
mean time some Christian denominations who held their service in the
English language were ardently endeavoring to promote the interest of
religion and the growth of their churches. But the God of an Arndt,
Spener, Francke, and of many other renowned founders and benefactors of
our Church still lives. In this most critical moment, when our Church,
which is distinguished for the simplicity of its service, the purity of
its doctrines, and the excellency of its church-discipline, was about to
sink into oblivion, just at this important moment the General Synod was
brought into existence, and through this body the Theological Seminary
and College grew up which now are in efficient operation and in a
flourishing condition. Now our children may be instructed in all the
different branches of the sciences by pious and well-trained teachers of
our faith. Now, by our Seminary, the Church may be supplied with learned
and pious preachers, who are able to instruct their hearers in both
languages. And from this institute they will always go forth as
brethren, inspired by the same spirit and led by the same principles."
(_Proceedings_, 1831,22.) In 1857, Krauth, Jr., defending the General
Synod, said: "She is the offspring of a reviving Lutheranism, born in
the dawn that followed the night which fell upon our Church in this
land, when the patriarchal luminaries of her early history had set on
earth to rise in heaven. When the General Synod came into being,
Rationalism still was in the ascendant in Europe. The names of Gabler
and Bretschneider, of Wegscheider and Roehr, were names which had been
held high in honor in the Lutheran Church in Germany. That Church had
become what such men might have been expected to make her. Where their
influence prevailed, she had become rotten in doctrine, destitute not
only of the power of godliness, but even of the decencies of its forms,
and ready, at the command of a royal devotee of Dagon, for a conjunction
which she once would have regarded as the adding of a scaly tail and
fishy fin to the fair bust of woman; but the bust was as fishy as the
tail now, and they were frozen into happy conjunction. But this was not
the Lutheranism which the General Synod desired to plant and perpetuate
in the New World. When the Lutheran Church looked around her in her
adopted land, she saw ignorance of her principles and prejudices of
every hue prevailing against her. When she looked to her native land,
all was thick darkness there. What was there on this side of the
Atlantic or beyond it to inspire hope? Why not abandon the experiment as
a thing foregone, and yield to the process of absorption into
surrounding sects? It was at this crisis that the life of the Church
displayed itself in the formation of the General Synod. The formation
was a great act of faith, made, as the framers of her Constitution
sublimely express it, in reliance 'upon God our Father, in the name of
our Lord Jesus Christ, under the guidance and direction of the Holy
Spirit in the Word of God.' The framers of that Constitution should be
as dear to us as Lutherans as the framers of our Federal Constitution
are to us as Americans. When the General Synod became completely
organized by the acknowledgment of the doctrinal Articles of the
Augsburg Confession as a standard of faith, it was the only voluntary
body on earth pretending to embrace a nation as its territory, and
bearing a Lutheran name, in which the fundamental doctrines of
Lutheranism were the basis of union. The General Synod was a
declaration, on the part of the Lutheran Church in America, that she had
no intention of dying or moving, that she liked this Western World and
meant to live here. And she has lived and waxed stronger and stronger,
and the General Synod has been a mighty agent in sustaining and
extending her beneficent work, and is destined to see a future which
shall eclipse all her glory in the past. Heaven pity the fate of the man
who looks upon the General Synod as having been a curse to the Church,
or an inefficient worker in it--who imagines that Lutheranism would be
stronger if the General Synod were weaker, or that truth would be reared
upon the ruins of what she has been patiently laboring for nearly forty
years to build." (Spaeth, 1, 383.)
21. Spaeth, and Jacobs on the General Synod.--After referring to the
unionistic, rationalistic, and Socinian degeneration in the Pennsylvania
and New York Ministeriums prior to the organization of the General
Synod, A. Spaeth continues: "With this powerful influx of rationalism,
and with the tendency of the remaining positive elements of our Church
to assimilate and unite themselves with the surrounding 'Evangelical
Denominations,' there was evident danger for the Lutheran Church in
America of losing her historical connection with the fathers, and
surrendering the distinctive features for which they contended, and as a
religious society becoming simply a member of the Reformed family. At
this point of threatening disintegration and dilapidation, the first
steps were taken toward the establishment of the General Synod, which
was certainly an honest effort to improve the state of affairs, to
gather the scattered members of our Lutheran Church, and to preserve her
as such on this Western Continent. Viewed in this light, the formation
of the General Synod was 'an offspring of reviving Lutheranism,' as Dr.
Krauth called it. But the difficulty and danger arose from the fact that
two conflicting and irreconcilable elements tried to unite in it with a
sort of compromise, the one, latitudinarian, un-Lutheran, unwilling or
unable to prize the treasures of the Mother Church of the Reformation,
and overanxious to exchange them for Puritan legalism and Methodistic
'new measures'; the other, conservative, holding on to the inheritance
of the fathers, and hoping almost against hope to bring the Church back
to their good foundation. If the former element succeeded in keeping out
of the General Synod's original constitution any direct and outspoken
reference to the historic confession of the Lutheran Church, the latter
might have thought themselves secure in the provision which denied to
the General Synod the power 'to make or demand any alteration whatever
in the doctrines hitherto received by us.' But the first-named party, at
the outset, had the popular sympathy on its side; it was the 'American'
over against the 'foreigner'; it was aggressive, and had the advantage
of having able and determined leaders, and thus, during the first
twenty-five years of the General Synod's history, easily ruled the day,
while the Lutheran consciousness of the second party slowly awoke from
its slumbers, and those that were to be its leaders on the day of battle
were quietly maturing from boyhood into manhood." (1, 320.) H. E.
Jacobs, endeavoring to view the origin of the General Synod in its
historical context, writes: "The General Synod must be regarded as a
very important forward movement, and its influence as beneficial. It
necessarily was not without the weaknesses that characterized the
Lutheran Church in America at that time. One who ignores the entire
historical development will find much to criticize and condemn, when
examined from the standpoint of what is demanded by consistency with
accurate theological definitions and clear conceptions of church polity.
But he will find just as much that incurs the same judgment in the
proceedings of the synods that united to form it. The faults peculiar to
each synod were lost, while only the common faults of them all remained.
The General Synod was a protest against the Socinianizing tendency in
New York and the schemes of a union with the Reformed in Pennsylvania
and with the Episcopalians in North Carolina. It stood for the
independent existence of the Lutheran Church in America, and the clear
and unequivocal confession of a positive faith. It failed, as its
founders in the several synods had failed, in specifically determining
the contents of this faith. It was not ready yet, as these synods were
not ready, to return to the foundations laid by Muhlenberg and his
associates, and from which there had been a general recession from
twenty-five to thirty years before. Lament defects as we may, the
General Synod saved the Church, as it became anglicized, from the
calamity of the type of doctrine which within the New York Ministerium
had been introduced into the English language." (_History_, 361 f.)
DOCTRINAL BASIS.
22. First Statement on Doctrinal Position.--The "Address of the
General Synod to the Evangelical Lutheran Church in the United States"
of 1823 contains the following reference to the doctrinal attitude of
the General Synod: "An acquaintance with the history of the Christian
Church in the past ages, as well as a knowledge of her present condition
throughout the world, establishes the fact that mankind are prone on
this subject to fall into contrary extremes; some maintaining that if
our external conduct be correct, it matters not what we believe, and
others contending that as long as our creed is sound, the Church has
little to do with private deportment. But the principle which the
General Synod conceive to be taught in Scripture, and which they would
recommend to the Church at large, is this, that we should view with
charity, and treat with forbearance, those who have fallen into an
aberration of non-fundamental importance either from the faith or the
practise of the Bible and the Augsburg Confession; and on the other
hand, that we are bound 'not to eat with a fornicator, or a covetous, or
an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner,' but to 'put
away from among us such wicked persons,' and that 'a man that is an
heretic,' who denies a fundamental doctrine, a doctrine essential to the
Christian scheme, we are in like manner bound 'after the first and
second admonition to reject.'" (14.) A fair analysis of this document
yields the propositions: The General Synod receives the Bible and the
Augsburg Confession. It distinguishes between fundamental and
non-fundamental doctrines and aberrations from both. It holds that some
of the doctrines of the Bible are not fundamental. It also holds that
some of the doctrines of the Augsburg Confession are not fundamental. It
enumerates neither the doctrines of the Bible nor of the Augsburg
Confession regarded as non-fundamental. It defines fundamental doctrines
as doctrines essential to the Christian scheme, hence, non-fundamental
doctrines as not essential to the Christian scheme. Indirectly it admits
that a doctrine essential to the Lutheran scheme is not necessarily a
fundamental doctrine or a doctrine essential to the Christian scheme. It
admits the inference that not all of the doctrines of the Augsburg
Confession are essential to the Lutheran scheme. It denies that all the
doctrines of the Augsburg Confession are essential to the Christian
scheme. It holds that non-fundamental aberrations from the Christian
scheme are not subject to church discipline. It also teaches that denial
of some of the doctrines of the Augsburg Confession is not a matter of
church discipline. In brief, the General Synod, according to the Address
of 1823, held that there are errors subject to discipline, while others
are not, but defined and enumerated neither the former nor the latter.
It failed to draw a line of demarcation between the doctrines which may,
and which may not, be denied with impunity. Indeed, the Constitution
adopted 1820 speaks of "Jesus Christ as the Son of God and ground of our
faith and hope." (Art. III, Sec. 2.) Possibly, however, the General
Synod was not ready in 1823 to enforce the ban on Socinianism. That the
sentiment against it was hardly as pronounced as is frequently assumed,
appears also from the fact that the General Synod, in 1825, appointed a
committee to prepare a hymn-book, liturgy, and a collection of prayers,
in the English language, "adhering particularly to the New York
Hymn-Book and German Liturgy of Pennsylvania as their guides." (11.) The
New York Hymn-Book referred to was Quitman's and the Pennsylvania
Liturgy the one of 1818, both tainted with rationalism. In the
resolutions, however, adopted in the same year with respect to the
Gettysburg Seminary, Jesus is confessed as "God over all, blessed
forever." (5.) And the Pastoral Letter of 1829 declares that the Church
is in need of a confession of faith in order to protect herself against
the Socinians. (17.)
23. Gettysburg Subscription Limited.--At the time of organization of
the General Synod, Samuel S. Schmucker and F. C. Schaeffer of New York
apparently occupied a relatively advanced confessional position.
According to a letter of Schmucker, dated Princeton, February 20, 1820,
they had promised each other to labor with all earnestness that the
Augsburg Confession should be raised again from the dust, and that every
one subscribe to its twenty-one articles, and declare before God, by his
subscription, that they agree with the Bible, not _quatenus_, but
_quia_. (Singmaster, _Dist. Doct._, 44.) In 1826 Schmucker wrote, in
defense of the Lutheran doctrine of the Person of Christ: "Only lack of
insight and of clearness of intellect can mislead an honest opponent to
impute a contradiction to the doctrine when it denies that the glorified
body of Christ has the properties and is subjected to the laws which we
call properties and laws of matter." (_Lutheraner_, April 12, 1852.)
When, in 1825, the statutes for the government of the Seminary at
Gettysburg were adopted, it was at the instance of Schmucker, the first
chairman of the faculty and for nearly forty years a teacher at the
Seminary, that the General Synod declared "that in this Seminary shall
be taught in the German and English languages, the fundamental doctrines
of the sacred Scriptures as contained in the Augsburg Confession of
Faith," and that any professor may be removed "on account of error
fundamental doctrines, immorality," etc. (5.) Article I, Section 2, of
the Constitution of the Seminary, drawn up Schmucker and adopted by
Synod, states that the Seminary is designed "to provide our churches
with pastors who sincerely believe, and cordially approve of, the
doctrines of the Holy Scriptures as they are fundamentally taught in the
Augsburg Confession." Another article requires every professor-elect to
publicly pronounce and subscribe the following declaration: "I believe
the Augsburg Confession and the Catechisms of Luther to be a summary and
just exhibition of the fundamental doctrines of the Word of God." And
when Schmucker, September 5, 1826, was inducted into the "professorship
Christian theology," D. F. Schaeffer, who delivered the charge, said:
"As the Lord has signally favored our beloved Church, as her tenets are
Biblical, and her veriest enemies cannot point out an important error in
her articles of faith, no more than could the enemies of the truth at
the Diet of Worms prove the books of the immortal Reformer erroneous,
therefore the Church which entrusts you with the preparation and
formation of her pastors, demands of you (and in her behalf I solemnly
charge you) to establish all students confided to your care in that
faith which distinguishes our Church from others. If any should object
to such faith, or any part of it, or refuse to be convinced of the
excellence of our discipline, they have their choice to unite with such
of our Christian brethren whose particular views in matters of faith and
discipline may suit them better. I hold it, however, as indispensable
for the peace and welfare of a Church that unity of sentiment should
prevail upon all important matters of faith and discipline among its
pastors. Hence I charge you to exert yourself in convincing our students
that the Augsburg Confusion is a safe directory to determine upon
matters of faith declared in the Lamb's book." (Spaeth, 1, 336.)
Accordingly Dr. Jacobs interprets the Gettysburg pledge as follows: "It
was a pledge to a distinctively Lutheran position. Such an affirmation
could never have been enforced in the proposed Lutheran-Reformed
seminary which the ministerium [of Pennsylvania] had had in mind. It
could not have been exacted of those who believed the confession to be
in error on those points which divide the Lutherans from the Reformed.
In justice, however, to those who might seem to have been acting a false
part in making this affirmation while they believed the confession to
contain errors, it must be stated, on the other hand, that the full
force of the declaration was not so clearly apparent in a period
directly following one when, as we have seen, the greatest living
theologian of the Lutheran Church in America could distinguish no
difference between the Augsburg Confession and the formularies of the
Church of England." This interpretation appears to be in agreement with
the solemn charge of Schaeffer, according to which the pledge refers to
that faith which distinguishes our Church from others." However,
Schmucker and his successors viewed the phrase "fundamental doctrines of
the Word of God" as a restriction, limiting the subscription to the
doctrines confessed by all evangelical denominations, thus eliminating
from the pledge distinctive Lutheran doctrines. And the historical
correctness of this view has never been satisfactorily refuted.
Schmucker declared time and again: "The Augsburg Confession was not to
be followed unconditionally; its binding force was expressly limited to
the fundamentals. The professor's oath expressly limits our pledge to
the Augsburg Confession to the fundamental doctrines of the Scriptures."
He wrote: "After the abandonment of the General Synod, in 1823, by the
Synods of Pennsylvania and New York, that body was chiefly sustained by
the zeal and activity of younger men, in connection with a few beloved
fathers who remained with us. At the very next meeting of the General
Synod, in 1825, I had the pleasure, as well as honor, to introduce, for
the first time in the history of that body, the recognition of the
Augsburg Confession. At that time there were none amongst the friends of
the General Synod who did not reject several tenets of the Augsburg
Confession, such as private confession and absolution, as we all still
do. Accordingly, the assent to the Augsburg Confession, expressed in the
statutes for the Theological Seminary presented by me, was a _qualified_
one; it should and was intended to bind only to the _fundamentals_ of
the Scriptures as taught in the Augsburg Confession. The language was
well understood then, and was deemed clear and satisfactory; it has
always been interpreted in the same way since, except by some, of late,
whose predilections would incline them to find in it, if possible, some
support for their more rigidly symbolic views." (Spaeth, 1, 338.) In the
_Evangelical Review_, April, 1851, Schmucker declared: The General Synod
established her theological seminary "not for the purpose of teaching
the symbolic system of the sixteenth century,--for her leading members
had all relinquished some of its features,--but, as her Constitution,
adopted in 1825, explicitly declares, to prepare men to teach, not all
the doctrines or aspects of doctrine in the Augsburg Confession, but the
'_fundamental_ doctrines'; and not those aspects of doctrine which might
be considered fundamental peculiarities of that Confession, but 'the
fundamental doctrines _of the Scriptures_' those aspects of doctrine
which Christians generally regard as fundamental truths of the Word of
God. The symbolical books of the General Synod and the seminary at
Gettysburg are the Bible and the Augsburg Confession, as a substantially
correct exhibition of the fundamental truths of the Bible. To this the
professorial oath of office in the seminary adds a similar _fundamental_
assent to the two Catechisms of Luther. For the professors to inculcate
on their students the obsolete views of the old Lutherans contained in
the former symbols of the Church in some parts of Germany, such as
exorcism, the real presence of the body and blood of Christ in the
Eucharist, private confession, baptismal regeneration, immersion in
baptism, as taught in Luther's Larger Catechism, etc., would be to
betray the confidence of those who elected them to office, and to defeat
the design of the institution." (Spaeth, 1, 338 f.)
24. Doctrinal Statements from 1829 to 1835.--The Pastoral Letter of
the convention of the General Synod in Hagerstown (Haegerstadt), 1829,
contains the following statements: The object of the General Synod is
not to introduce absolute uniformity also in non-essential doctrines;
such a unity did not exist in the early Christian congregations; it is
sufficient to adhere to the fundamental tenets of the Reformation; every
teacher and layman is entitled to use his Bible without being bound by
any human confessions; the General Synod merely demands acceptance of
the fundamental doctrines of the Gospel as taught in the Augsburg
Confession, and leaves everything else unlimited; but she does not agree
with those who absolutely reject all confessions of faith; the Church is
in need of a confession in order to protect herself against the
Socinians; most of the confessions, however, have lost themselves into
minute (_spitzfindige_) and doubtful dogmas, and thus encouraged the
spirit of superstition and schism, and naturally must continue to do so,
the longer, the more; in every one of the different orthodox
[evangelical] denominations, frequently, indeed, in the same
congregation, there are persons who differ as much in their opinions as
the confession of their Church differs from that of other Churches;
accordingly, there is no reason why synods bearing the name of Luther
should not unite with the General Synod, though differing in their views
as to non-fundamentals; the General Synod has no power to call members
of individual synods to account for aberrations in doctrine or life; the
most it can do is to admonish such a synod to investigate the matter;
however, a synod refusing to demand orthodoxy in fundamentals can be
expelled from the General Synod; in brief, the four synods now
constituting the General Body are so many independent ecclesiastical
jurisdictions, united only in order to promote brotherly love, and to
combine their forces in the execution of such things as are of general
benefit, and which no individual synod could perform. (16.) "The General
Synod therefore," says the letter of 1829, "only demands of those who
are connected with her that they hold the fundamental doctrines of the
Gospel as they are taught in the Augsburg Confession, and leaves all
other things unlimited." "Why, then," the letter continues, "should not
all those synods of our country that bear the name of our immortal
Luther, and have always yet retained the chief traits of this sublime
Reformer, be united by the tender bond of the General Synod,
notwithstanding the different opinions which they may entertain in; some
points which do not touch the foundation of the Augsburg Confession?"
(16.) It was in accordance with the sentiments expressed in this letter
when the General Synod at the same convention in Hagerstown adopted for
its district synods a constitution with a form of licensure and
ordination containing the questions: "Do you believe the Scriptures of
the Old and New Testaments to be the Word of God and the only infallible
rule of faith and practise?" "Do you believe that the fundamental
doctrines of the Holy Scriptures are taught in a manner substantially
correct (wesentlich richtig) in the doctrinal articles of the Augsburg
Confession?" (43. 45.) Prior to 1864 the General Synod as such, however,
was not in any shape or manner committed to the Augsburg Confession
constitutionally. In 1835, when the Constitution was amended, Synod as
such remained non-committal. The doctrinal basis then adopted and
embodied in the Constitution does not mention the Augsburg Confession.
It reads as follows: "All regularly constituted Lutheran synods holding
the fundamental doctrines of the Bible as taught by our Church, not now
in connection with the General Synod, may at any time become associated
with it by adopting this Constitution and sending delegates to its
convention, according to the ratio specified in Art. II." (_Proceedings_
1839, 49.) Evidently this deliverance, though marking an advance over
the Constitution of 1820, intentionally omits a direct reference to the
Augustana. Till 1864, then, the exact constitutional basis of the
General Synod as such was not the Augsburg Confession, but the
indefinite phrase: "the fundamental doctrines of the Bible as taught by
our Church." All other confessional deliverances of the General Synod
till 1864 may be summarized as follows: The fundamental doctrines of the
Bible, _i.e._, the doctrines in which all evangelical (non-Socinian)
Christians agree, are taught in a manner substantially correct in the
doctrinal articles of the Augsburg Confession.
25. "A Solemn Farce."--The doctrinal basis of the General Synod, prior
to 1864, is limited in more than one way. It does not embrace all of the
Lutheran symbols. It includes only the twenty-one doctrinal articles of
the Augustana. It binds only to the fundamental articles of the Bible.
It presupposes that fundamental articles are such only as are agreed to
by all evangelical Churches. It leaves the question whether all of those
twenty-one articles of the Augsburg Confession are to be regarded as
"fundamental doctrines of the Bible" undecided. It adopts the articles
of the Augsburg Confession regarded as fundamental, not simply and
absolutely, but merely as substantially correct." On the question of the
ordination form of 1829 Krauth, Jr., commented in 1857 as follows:
"What, then, is that question? We reply, in general: First, that the
subject of her general affirmation is not the Book of Concord as a
whole, but simply and purely the Augsburg Confession. Secondly, that not
the entire Confession, but only the twenty-one articles of it which
treat of doctrine, are specified in the affirmation. Thirdly, that only
so far as these articles embrace _fundamental_ doctrines does she make
an affirmation. Fourthly, that of these she affirms that they teach the
doctrines in a correct manner, and defines the correctness as a
_substantial_ one." (Spaeth, 1, 386.) J. L. Neve explains: "They
[General Synod] considered what the Lutheran Church has in common with
the other churches, and looked upon this as the fundamentals of
Christianity, while the characteristic peculiarity of the Church of
Luther, her special inheritance, was set aside as non-fundamental and
unessential." (_Geschichte_, 90.) Accordingly, the General Synod, prior
to 1864, did not subscribe to the distinctive doctrines of the Lutheran
Church, but only to the doctrines held in common by the evangelical
churches of Protestantism. Charles Philip Krauth, who was styled a
Symbolist and Old Lutheran by the latitudinarians, declared in 1850, in
his address before the General Synod at Charleston: "The terms of the
subscription [to the Augustana] are such as to admit of the rejection
of any doctrine or doctrines which the subscriber may not receive. It
is subscribed or assented to as containing the doctrines of the Word of
God substantially; they are set forth in substance; the understanding
is that there are some doctrines in it not contained in the Word of
God, but there is no specification concerning them. Every one could
omit from his assent whatever he did not believe. The subscription did
not preclude this. It is at once evident that a creed thus presented is
no creed; that it is anything or nothing; that its subscription is a
solemn farce." (Spaeth, 1, 370.)
BASIS INTERPRETED.
26. Authentic Explanation of Doctrinal Basis.--In his _Popular
Theology_, published for the first time in 1834, S. S. Schmucker wrote:
"The General Synod of the Lutheran Church has adopted only the
twenty-one doctrinal articles, omitting even the condemnatory clauses of
these, and also the entire catalog of Abuses corrected. No minister,
however, considers himself bound to believe every sentiment contained in
these twenty-one articles, but only the fundamental doctrines.
Accordingly, the pledge of adoption required at licensure and ordination
is couched in the following terms . . .: 'Do you believe that the
_fundamental_ doctrines of the Word of God are taught in a manner
_substantially_ correct in the doctrinal articles of the Augsburg
Confession?' The Lutheran divines of this country are not willing to
bind either themselves or others to anything more than the fundamental
doctrines of the Christian revelation, believing that an immense mass of
evil has resulted to the Church of God from the rigid requisition of
extensive and detailed creeds. . . . We can see no sufficient warrant
for any Christian Church to require as a term of admission or communion
greater conformity of view than is requisite to harmony of feeling and
successful cooperation in extending the kingdom of Christ. . . . Had the
early Protestants endeavored to select the principal and fundamental
doctrines of Christianity, required a belief of them from all applicants
for admission into their ranks, and agreed among themselves that
discrepance of views on matters of non-fundamental nature should neither
be a bar to ecclesiastical communion nor fraternal affection, they would
have saved the Church from the curse of those dissensions by which piety
was in a great degree destroyed and on several occasions the very
foundations of Protestantism shaken." (Edition of 1848, 50 ff.) In 1850,
attacking Reynolds in the _Lutheran Observer_ on account of his
defection from American Lutheranism, Schmucker stated: From the very
outset the General Synod had abandoned the distinctive Lutheran
doctrines, and nevertheless retained the Lutheran name; in spite of his
deviations from the Lutheran symbols he, with perfect right, could call
himself a faithful Lutheran. (_L._, 6, 139.) Schmucker, "the most
authentic interpreter of the Constitution of the General Synod and that
of its theological seminary," never identified the "fundamental
doctrines of the Bible" with the twenty-one articles of the Augsburg
Confession. According to him the fundamentals are obtained by striking
from the Augustana everything that is objectionable to any Evangelical
Church and retaining the remainder as the substance of Protestantism.
All of the fundamental doctrines, Schmucker declared, are contained in
the ecumenical creeds; everything else is trans-fundamental, not
required by the General Synod for Christian union and communion. In his
sermon at the convention in Winchester, 1853, Schmucker maintained that
the essential, fundamental doctrines in which the General Synod demands
agreement, are "the cardinal doctrines of the Reformation, the points of
agreement between the different creeds of the sixteenth century,"
distinctive doctrines being points of non-essential, non-fundamental
difference. According to Schmucker the General Synod's motto,
"Uniformity in fundamentals and charity or liberty in non-fundamentals,"
never meant anything else than uniformity in the doctrines in which the
evangelical denominations agree, and liberty with respect to distinctive
tenets, also those of Lutheranism. In his _Lutheran Manual_ of 1855
Schmucker wrote: "The founders of the General Synod were men of
enlarged, liberal, and Scriptural views of the kingdom of Christ.
Convinced of the gradual abandonment of the whole mass of symbolical
books in Germany, as well as from the personal examination of them, of
their want of adaptedness to the age, they regarded it as the grand
vocation of the American Church, released by Providence from civil
servitude, to reconstruct her framework, assuming a more friendly
attitude toward sister churches, and so organizing as to promote
Scriptural union among Protestants, and to bring up our
church-institutions to the increased light of Biblical study and
Providential development. This enlightened, this millennial attitude of
the founders of the General Synod, the writer can confidently affirm,
from personal knowledge, having been well acquainted with the greater
part of them, and having been present at Baltimore in 1819, when the
formation of the Synod was, after ample discussion, resolved on; and at
Hagerstown, in 1820, when the Constitution was formed. But the
Constitution speaks for itself; for it invested the General Synod with
power to form a new Confession of Faith, and new catechisms, suited to
the progress of Biblical light and the developed views of the Church.
Subsequently it was believed that the necessities of the case would be
best met by the retention of the Augsburg Confession, on account of its
importance as a link in the chain of historical Christianity, and by
prescribing its _qualified_ adoption, _viz_., as to the fundamental
aspects of Scripture doctrine. . . . It is an incontestable fact, which
can easily be established, that the original standpoint of the General
Synod, whilst controlled by the Pennsylvania Synod, was rejection of the
binding authority of the old confessions. This is undeniably proved by
their not even naming the Augsburg Confession in their Constitution, by
their declining even a qualified recognition of it, and by their
inserting a clause expressly giving authority to the General Synod to
form a confession of faith; yea, even going further, and giving the same
authority to each District Synod also. (See the original Constitution,
Article III, Section 2.) It seems to me no intelligent and unprejudiced
mind can resist this conclusion as to their doctrinal standpoint, whilst
I and others who were present know it to have been as above stated." In
his manuscript notes Schmucker says: "It is worthy of constant
remembrance that during the first four centuries, under the immediate
pupils of the inspired apostles and their successors, the voice of the
universal Church under the whole heaven was that nothing more than
fundamental agreement should be required for communion in the Christian
Church and Christian ministry. Not a single orthodox church practised
differently. All required assent only to the several ecumenical
confessions, the so-called Apostles' and the Nicene Creeds. . . . No,
the practise of binding the conscience of ministers and members to
extended creeds, containing minor points, on which men in all churches
and all ages have differed and ever will differ, and thus splitting up
the Body of Christ without His authority, is, and must be, highly
criminal. The fathers who founded the General Synod all considered the
recognition of fundamentals as sufficient, and here, in this free
country, determined to return to the practise of the earlier and purer
centuries of the Church. These fathers were Drs. J. G. Schmucker, George
Lochmann, C. Endress, F. W. Geissenhainer, Daniel Kurtz, H. A.
Muhlenberg, P. F. Mayer, H. Schaeffer, and D. F. Schaeffer, Rev. Gottl.
Shober, and Rev. Peter Schmucker, with their younger colaborers, Drs.
Benjamin Kurtz, S. S. Schmucker [Charles Philip Krauth?]. [tr. note: sic]
Holding this opinion, they did not introduce any recognition, even of
the Augsburg Confession, into their original Constitution in 1820. But
at the third meeting, in 1825, they adopted certain resolutions for the
foundation of the theological seminary and statutes for its government,
and bound its professors to the fundamental doctrines of Scripture as
taught in the Augsburg Confession. They thus returned to the principles
and practise of the earlier and purer centuries of the Church, when the
influence of the Savior and His inspired apostles was more sensibly felt
in the Church." (Spaeth, 1, 342. 337. 354.)
27. "Lutheran Observer" Interpreting Basis.--Apart from its coarseness
and fanaticism, especially during the thirty years' editorship of Dr. B.
Kurtz, the _Lutheran Observer_ has throughout its existence, from 1831
to 1916, always been an essentially correct exponent of the original
doctrinal and confessional attitude of the General Synod. Consistently a
General Synodist cannot disown the _Observer_ without renouncing the
General Synod itself. Now, according to the _Observer_, the General
Synod has always stood for unity in essentials, or fundamentals, and
liberty in non-fundamentals, understanding by fundamentals those
doctrines only in which Evangelical Christendom is agreed, and by
non-fundamentals distinctive tenets, also those of Lutheranism. Quoting
from Dr. S. Sprecher's inaugural address at Wittenberg College,
Springfield, O., the _Lutheran Observer_, October 26, 1849, declared
that Lutherans [of the General Synod], in adopting the confessions, "do
not bind their conscience to more than what all evangelical Christians
[denominations] regard as fundamental doctrines of the Bible. We are
bound to believe only that the sublime plan of the Gospel is taught in
the Augsburg Confession. This is the position held by the General Synod
and by the American Lutheran Church in general, and this seems to have
been the position also of the Church in the earlier and purer days of
the Reformation." (_L._, 6, 57.) In 1860 the _Observer_ declared that
the General Synod was organized on the basis of a compromise with
respect to doctrines of minor import, such as the doctrine of the Lord's
Supper, of the power of Baptism and of absolution. _Observer_, April 8,
1864: "We ought to be one in the doctrine of faith which embraces the
fundamental doctrines of Christianity, while we should practise love
with respect to other things. By fundamental doctrines we understand
such and such only as are necessary to make a man a true child of God.
. . . Who can be a Christian and deny the essence and existence of God,
Christ, and the Holy Spirit, the atonement, the doctrines of repentance
and faith in Christ, the necessity of justification before God and of
sanctification of the heart, or the moral law as the rule of life, the
doctrine of immortality and our future destination? These doctrines,
which are essential to faith and Christian life, are fundamental and
ought to be received by the heart and practised, while all other
doctrines may be necessary more or less in order to perfect the
Christian character and render it more symmetrical, but do not strike
the heart of true religion." (_L. u. W._, 1864, 154.) _Observer,_ March
12 and 19, 1869: "The doctrinal basis of the General Synod demands
adoption of the fundamental doctrines of the Word of God as taught in
the Augsburg Confession, but she has never determined which doctrines
she regards as fundamental and which not. Formerly she was satisfied
with the general judgment of the Protestant world with respect to the
fundamental articles of Christianity . . ., but during the last decade
the question was extensively discussed: What is fundamental? We see no
reason why the General Synod could not and should not supplement her
basis by a definition and enumeration of the fundamental doctrines. . .
. According to the universal judgment of the Church the doctrinal
opinions in which the orthodox Protestant Churches differ are not
fundamental, but non-fundamental doctrines. Whether God's decree of
election is absolute or conditional; whether the corruption of the
fallen nature of Adam was propagated or only the guilt of his sin was
imputed to his descendants; whether the atonement is universal or
limited to the elect; whether justification occurs by the imputation of
the righteousness of Christ to believers or by the imputation of faith;
whether the presence of Christ in the Lord's Supper is bodily or
spiritual; whether the receiving of body and blood is by faith or by the
mouth, is limited to believers or extends also to unbelievers; whether
the church government is participated in by laymen or limited to the
ministers; whether the Scriptural principles on this matter establish an
hierarchy or democracy--these and many other questions are differently
answered by different Protestant denominations, but without objectively
destroying the ground of faith or subjectively the essence of faith. .
. . In short, the doctrinal views which still separate the Protestant
churches are not fundamental." (_L. u. W._, 1869, 121.)
28. Krauth on "Fundamentals Substantially Correct."--The essential
correctness of Schmucker's and the _Observer's_ interpretation of the
General Synod's doctrinal basis was acknowledged also by Charles
Porterfield Krauth. "The very life," said he, "the very existence of the
General Synod depends upon the distinction between fundamentals, in
which agreement is required, and non-fundamentals, in which liberty is
granted." And while his father had condemned the confessional basis of
the General Synod as a "solemn farce," Krauth, Jr., in 1857, declared:
"Let the old Formula stand and let it be defined." In the _Missionary_,
April 30, 1857, Dr. Krauth explained: "The doctrinal basis of the
General Synod, then, was designed to be one on which, without sacrifice
of conscience, brethren differing in non-fundamentals might meet. It is
a basis which, on the one hand, neither by expression nor by implication
charges error upon any part of the doctrinal articles of the Confession,
but as far as it touches the question at all, expresses or implies the
very opposite; a basis, therefore, on which brethren who receive the
Confession without reservation can rest, but which, at the same time, on
the other hand, defines its position only as to what is fundamental,
leaving entirely untouched the questions whether non-fundamental
doctrines are taught in the Confession, and whether, if taught, they are
taught in a manner substantially correct. Furthermore, in using the word
'substantially' to qualify the term 'correct,' in the affirmation as to
fundamentals, the General Synod meant not to decide, but to leave
untouched the question whether, as to its very letter as well as in its
essentials, the Confession is a correct exhibition of Scripture
doctrine. The position, in effect, implied this: Brethren may differ as
to whether the non-fundamental doctrines as well as the fundamental
doctrines are correctly stated in the Confession. Let them differ. We
make no decision whatever as to that point. Both agree as to
_fundamentals_; therefore fundamentals only shall be the object in this
subscription. We affirm of them that they are taught correctly in the
Confession. Of the non-fundamentals we affirm nothing and deny nothing.
Neither their reception nor rejection has anything to do with this
basis. But brethren differ on another point. Some receive the very
letter of the Confession on all points of doctrine; others, who receive
it to the letter on most points, receive it only as to its main drift on
a few. Let, then, that which is apart from the substance be left out of
view, and be the subject neither of affirmation nor of denial. Let us
make the affirmation simply on the _substantial_ correctness of the
Confession, for on that all are agreed. Here, too, shall be the same
absolute freedom to _receive_ what is apart from the substance as to
_reject_ it." Dr. Krauth proceeds: "The basis of the General Synod,
then, does not imply that non-fundamentals are falsely taught, or that
the correctness of the Confession on fundamentals is _merely_
substantial. The questions which touch non-fundamentals, or matters
apart from the substance, are _simply waived_ and left undetermined.
Thus interpreted, the most devoted friend of the Confession, in all its
parts, as well as he who is compelled to make a reservation as to some
portions, can freely use the Formula. It was the best basis possible,
under all the circumstances, and we are therefore satisfied with it."
"If, when the General Synod affirmed that the _fundamentals_ were
correctly taught, she had declared or implied that the non-fundamentals
were incorrectly taught, no Lutheran who believed that the Augsburg
Confession is sound on _all_ the doctrinal points it touches, or who
believed that none but fundamental doctrines are set forth in the
Confession, could have received the Formula. She satisfied herself,
therefore, with an affirmative about fundamentals, making neither an
affirmation nor denial in regard to non-fundamentals. She left the
synods in absolute freedom in non-fundamentals, freedom to doubt, to
reject, or to receive them." "So also when she declared that the
fundamentals of Scripture-doctrine are taught in a manner
_substantially_ correct, she neither declared nor implied that they were
not taught in a manner absolutely correct, but ... as all who believe
that they are set forth in a manner _absolutely correct_, believe,
necessarily, that they are taught in a manner _substantially_ correct;
for that which is absolute embraces that which is substantial and
something more; she simply makes an affirmation, so far as two classes
(if thinkers are agreed, affirming nothing and denying nothing as
regards that in which they differ, but having absolute freedom to doubt,
reject, or receive that which goes beyond the substance, and embraces
the minutiae of the form. The man who has a quarrel with this position
of the General Synod has a quarrel not against something incidental to
her, but against her very life. For on this position, expressed or
implied, rested, and continues to rest, the ability of our General Synod
to have a being." (Spaeth, 1, 402. 399. 401. 395 f.) According to Krauth,
then, there was constitutional room in the General Synod for Schmucker
and Kurtz as well as for Walther and Wyneken; room for all who accept
the fundamental doctrines in which evangelical Christians agree, but
deny the distinctively Lutheran doctrines, and room also for men who
confess all doctrines of the Lutheran Symbols. As late as October 29,
1863, Krauth declared in the _Lutheran and Missionary_ that there was
nothing in the Basis of the General Synod to bar even the Missouri Synod
from entering it with the whole mass of confessions in her arms. (_L. u.
W._, 1863, 378.) Dr. Krauth overlooked the fact that a Lutheran who
adopts the symbols _ex animo_, and does not merely carry them in his
arms, is serious also with respect to the confessional damnamuses with
which a unionism and indifferentism, as required by the General Synod,
is absolutely incompatible. In 1901 the _Lutheran Quarterly_ said: "The
damnamuses at the conclusion of several of the articles of the Augsburg
Confession are inconsistencies . . . fundamental contradictions with the
positive sense of the Confession." (359.) The _Quarterly_ could have
said, and probably wanted to say, that these damnamuses are fundamental
contradictions with the doctrinal basis of the General Synod. In
complete agreement with Krauth, the _Observer_ wrote September 11, 1903:
"The General Synod affirms and emphasizes what is universal in
Lutheranism, and leaves the individual at liberty, within this generic
unity, to receive and hold for himself whatever particularities of
Lutheran statement may commend themselves to his acceptance. The only
liberty denied him is that of forcing the particular upon his brethren
who are content to rest in the full acceptance of what is universal in
Lutheranism. It allows the same liberty in practise." (_L. u. W._, 1903,
305.)
UNIONISM.
29. Early Attitude.--The unionism which prevailed in all Lutheran synods
since the days of Muhlenberg was freely indulged in also by the General
Synod during the whole course of her history, in various ways,
especially in the exchange of fraternal delegates and the fellowship of
pulpit and altar. In 1825 the General Synod published with great
satisfaction a letter received from Dr. Planck, of Goettingen, stating:
Though there was in Germany no hope for a union of Protestants and
Catholics, the sectarian hatred between the Lutherans and the Reformed
had abated, indeed, disappeared, inasmuch as a complete union of them
had been effected in Prussia, Hesse, Nassau, the Palatinate, Baden;
these "reunions" had been brought about under conditions which
guaranteed their permanence, since both parties had convinced themselves
that there was no difference of views among them with respect to the
foundation of faith, and had agreed that the difference which might
still exist with respect to some points of the Lord's Supper could no
longer be a hindrance to their unity of faith and spirit; this union,
inasmuch as the parties no longer regarded themselves as divided, really
existed in all Protestant states of Germany, even where, as yet, it had
not been acknowledged formally. (24 f.) According to the Proceedings of
1827 "the Synod was gratified by the deep interest evinced by this
letter [of Dr. Planck] in the affairs of our Church in the United
States, and received the good wishes of its distinguished author with
grateful feelings. The corresponding committee was directed to answer
this communication." (5.) It was in keeping with the spirit of Planck's
letter that the minutes of 1827 furthermore recorded: "The following
gentlemen were present and [were] admitted as advisory members . . .:
The Rev. Mr. Helfenstein, of Philadelphia, as delegate from the Bible
Society in that city; and Rev. Mr. van der Sloot, as delegate from the
General Synod of the German Reformed Church." (5.) "Resolved, That the
General Synod of the Ev. Lutheran Church in the United States regard
with deep interest the exertions of the American Tract Society, and
recommend the design of said society to the churches under their care;
to give it their aid by the formation of auxiliary societies, and such
other means as have been recommended by the parent institution." (7.)
"Rev. Mr. Hinsch appeared and presented to this body the minutes of
the German Reformed Synod, and received a seat as an advisory member,
whereupon it was resolved that an equal number of the minutes of this
Synod be sent to the Synod of the German Reformed Church." (8.) "The
subject of publishing a new hymn-book in the German language, adapted to
the joint use of Lutheran and Reformed Churches, was now taken into
consideration. After some discussion it was resolved that as the joint
hymn-book for the Lutheran and Reformed Churches now in use is
introduced in a large number of our congregations, as it is possessed of
considerable merit, and as the introduction of a new one would be
attended with much expense to our congregations and confusion in worship,
therefore the General Synod deem it inexpedient to publish or recommend
the introduction of a new one in the churches under their care." (11.)
"Rev. N. Sharrets was appointed as delegate to the Synod of Ohio, and
the Rev. B. Kurtz and Rev. J. Schmidt as delegates to the German
Reformed General Synod." (12.) _Proceedings_, October, 1829: "Resolved,
That a committee be appointed to report on the proceedings of the German
Reformed Synod." (6.) "The delegates of the German Reformed Synod, the
Revs. Brunner and Beecher, were cordially received as advisory members."
(4.) The constitution adopted 1829 for the District Synods provides:
"Ministers, regular members of other synods or of sister churches
[sectarian denominations], who may be present or appear as delegates of
such bodies, may be received as advisory members, but have no vote in
any decision of the Synod." (31.)
30. Exchanging Delegates, Pulpits, Ministers.--In 1847, in a letter to
Ph. Schaff, W. J. Mann describes the relation of the General Synod to
the Methodists and Presbyterians as a "concubinage" with the sects.
(Spaeth, _W. J. Mann_, 38.) The extent, nature, and anti-Lutheran
tendency of this unionism appears from the minutes of the General Synod.
At Hagerstown, 1837, a Presbyterian, an Episcopalian, a Reformedist, and
a Methodist were received as advisory members. Two Lutheran ministers
preached in the Reformed church, two others in the Methodist church, and
Dr. Patton, of the American Education Society, in the Lutheran church.
At Baltimore, 1848, delegates of the General Assembly of the
Presbyterian Church and of the Dutch Reformed Church were received as
advisory members. (5.) The minutes of the German Reformed Synod were
received and submitted to the examination of a committee. (9.) Delegates
were appointed to the Presbyterian and the German Reformed Church. (11.)
At Charleston, 1850, delegates were appointed to the German Reformed,
the Presbyterian, the Cumberland Presbyterian, and the Congregational
Church. It was also resolved that "the minutes [of the General Synod] be
sent to the Congregational Association of New Hampshire, to the Assembly
of the Cumberland Presbyterians, to the Constitutional Assembly of the
Presbyterian Church, and to the Synod of the German Reformed Church."
(28.) At Dayton, O., 1855, sixteen sectarian ministers were seated as
advisory members. (7.) At Reading, 1857, the Committee on Ecclesiastical
Correspondence reported: "With the General Assembly of the Presbyterian
Church we have now been in correspondence for twelve years, and every
interchange of delegates only strengthens the conviction expressed at
its commencement, that it 'would draw more closely the bonds of
Christian union, and so level the mountains and elevate the valleys of
sectarianism as to prepare the way of the Lord in His coming to
millennial glory.' We rejoice to-day to greet a delegate from that large
and influential body of Christians, and tender to him our Christian
salutations and brotherly love." (41.) At Pittsburgh, 1859, where
fourteen sectarian ministers were invited to seats in the convention,
the same committee stated: "The most interesting point to which your
committee would call the attention of the General Synod is the prompt
and cordial response of the Northern Provincial Synod of the United
Brethren (Moravian) to the overture for correspondence made to them at
our last meeting in Reading. Like ourselves, they acknowledge the
Augsburg Confession as their common bond of union, and have, ever since
the commencement of the last century, sustained a peculiar and intimate
relation towards our Church. It is only by discipline and forms of
church-government that we are separated, and we trust that the step
which has now been taken will draw us still more closely together, and
tend to our mutual edification and progress in Christian activity as
well as in brotherly love." (30.) At Lancaster, Pa., 1862, the delegate
to the German Reformed Church reported "that he was most kindly received
by that body, and was charged by the same to return its cordial
salutations to this Synod, with the hope on the part of our German
Reformed brethren that the present fraternal correspondence between our
Churches, twin-sisters of the Reformation, may never be interrupted. The
President of that body was appointed as delegate to this Synod, and we
rejoice to see him present with us now and taking an active interest in
our proceedings." (64.) The delegate to the Moravian Church declared
that "he takes great pleasure in stating that the fraternal greetings
which he was charged to convey to the brethren with most cordially
reciprocated, and the earnest desire expressed that the correspondence,
so auspiciously begun between the two bodies, might be continued." (64.)
At Lancaster it was also recommended to the District Synods that with
respect to the Reformed, Presbyterian, and other Churches they adopt the
rule: "Ministers and members in good standing, desiring to pass from one
of these bodies to the other, shall, upon application to the proper
body, receive a certificate of their standing." (16.) In accordance with
this rule the _Lutheran Observer_, May 17, 1867, advised Lutherans
moving West to unite with sister denominations until a Lutheran
congregation should be established at the place. (_L. u. W._ 1867, 182.)
At York, Pa., 1864, where sermons were delivered by Lutheran ministers
in eight sectarian churches, S. S. Schmucker, delegate to the German
Reformed Church, reported that "an invitation was given him to address
the Synod, and that the feelings of Christian fellowship which he took
occasion to express were cordially and liberally responded to by the
presiding officer of the Synod." (31.) Dr. Sprecher, then President of
the General Synod, said in response to the address of the delegate from
the Presbyterian Church who had spoken of the unity of all Christians,
and assured the convention of the sympathy of his brethren with its
work, that he was happy to see that the time of exclusiveness of the
different denominations had passed by, and that the Church was becoming
more liberal in its views in granting greater liberty in nonfundamental
articles. (_L. u. W._ 1864, 220.)
31. Exchanging Delegates, etc., Continued.--At Fort Wayne, 1866, where
delegates were appointed to the German Reformed Synod, the Presbyterian
Church, the Moravian Church, and the Evangelical Church Union of the
West, S. Sprecher, delegate to the Presbyterian Church, reported that he
was most cordially received, that the fraternal greetings of this body
were most heartily responded to by the moderator of the Assembly, and
that "on your delegate's quoting, in his address, the Article of the
Constitution of this General Synod, inculcating the duty of Christian
union, as one of the earliest instances, if not the very first, of an
ecclesiastical body's formally expressing such sentiments on this
subject, he was pleasantly interrupted by a hearty expression of
applause." (36.) In the minutes of the convention held at Washington,
1869, we read: "Dr. Gordon, the delegate from the Reformed (Dutch)
Church, then addressed the Synod. The address was characterized by a
truly earnest and Christian spirit, and by assurance of a hearty purpose
to cooperate with us in every noble effort for the glory of God and the
salvation of men. His allusions to Romanism were especially timely and
truthful. The President responded in an address, happily conceived and
forcibly expressed. On motion it was resolved that the overtures of the
corresponding delegate of the Reformed Church concerning the proposed
convention for the formation of church union and cooperative agency
against a common foe be submitted to a committee to report during the
present sessions of Synod." (26.) The delegate of the Presbyterian
Church addressed the Synod "in a very pleasant and appropriate address.
His kind expressions of good will and sympathy and Christian love were
warmly responded to by the President." (27.) The delegate to the German
Reformed Church reported: "An opportunity was granted to your delegate
to present the Christian salutations of our General Synod, to which the
President of their body responded in a warm, fraternal, and most fitting
manner." Delegate to the Presbyterian General Assembly: "My intercourse
with the brethren of the General Assembly was peculiarly pleasant and
satisfactory." (13.) The delegate to the "Unitas Fratrum" (Moravians)
stated "that he was most cordially received by the brethren. There is
something of the simplicity and love of primitive Christianity about
them that renders their assemblages charmingly attractive. The spirit of
the Master was evinced in all their doings. Their discussions of some
points of church-practises, diverging from their accustomed order, were
spirited and thorough, but conducted in the scope of the Pauline
sentiment: 'Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love, in
honor preferring one another.'" (34.) The General Synod declared: "Our
principles not merely allow, but actually demand, fraternal relations
with all Evangelical Christians, and especially with other Lutheran
bodies in this country." (68.) At Canton, O., 1873, where Lutheran
ministers preached in ten sectarian churches, the following letter of
greeting from the United Brethren was read: "Our conference and Church
duly appreciate every mark of good feeling and regard of sister
denominations towards us, and admire the spirit which prompts it, which
says, 'We are brethren,' 'We are one.' We are glad to note that the
sharp corners of denominational antagonism are wearing away, that the
watchmen are seeing eye to eye, that Christians can labor side by side
in the common cause and in the same altars, and meet at the same
communion, and each rejoice in the other's success. We also remember,
with the utmost pleasure, the intimacy of some of the eminent men of
your connection with the fathers of our connection,--instance Dr. Kurtz
and W. Otterbein,--and trust that the sacred mantle of brotherly love
which the fathers possessed may fall upon the sons to many generations.
We rejoice in the marked tendency to fraternal union among the
evangelical churches of the United States, and are hopeful that we may
get near together in all the essentials of Christian oneness. We take
great pleasure in appointing a fraternal messenger to your general
meeting at Canton, O." (34.) At Carthage, Ill., 1877, delegates were
appointed to the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church, the
Reformed (Dutch) Church, the Reformed (German) Church, the National
Council of the Congregational Churches, the United Presbyterian Church,
the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, the Provincial Synod of the Moravian
Church, the United Brethren in Christ, and to the Evangelical Synod of
the West. (26.) At Altoona, Pa., 1881, the following letter was
received: "The Presbyterian Church greets, in the name of Christ, her
twin-sister, the Evangelical Lutheran Church, born in the throes of the
same spiritual reformation, sharing in common a glorious protesting
history, marked with glorious deeds and names dear alike to both, a
common glorious heritage, kindred symbols and polity, and a work for
Christ side by side. May grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and
the Lord Jesus Christ be with all your ministers and congregations."
(54.) At Omaha, Nebr., 1887, thirty ministers of the General Synod
preached in 18 sectarian churches, etc. Similar facts are recorded in
the minutes of the General Synod down to its last convention in 1917.
32. Altar-fellowship Practised and Encouraged.--At Hagerstown, 1837,
after a sermon delivered by Dr. Bachmann, "the brethren, united with
many followers of Christ, of our own as well as of sister-churches,
celebrated the Lord's Supper." (3.) At Philadelphia, 1845, the General
Synod "cordially approves of the practise, which has hitherto prevailed
in our churches, of inviting communicants in regular standing in either
church [Lutheran and Reformed] to partake of the Sacrament of the Lord's
Supper in the other, and of the dismission of church-members, at their
own request, from the churches of the one to those of the other
denominations." At York, 1864, and at Fort Wayne, 1866, the report of
the Liturgical Committee was adopted, which contained the resolution
"that on all subjects on which difference of doctrinal sentiment
exists" (_e.g._, the distribution formula in the Lord's Supper),
"Scripture-language, suited to either or both views, is to be employed
without comment." (1864,26; 1866,23.) The result was that the union
distribution formula was embodied in the Communion liturgy. The
_Observer_, July 21, 1865, calling upon all Lutherans to join the
General Synod, said: "And even if we, as Luther and the Reformed
ministers at Marburg, do not think alike on the presence of the Lord in
the Lord's Supper, let us have love to those who are in error, and pray
God that He would enlighten them. What an offense to see so many
thousands of intelligent and pious Lutherans live together like Jews and
Samaritans though they all confess [?] the doctrines of the immortal
Reformer and want to be disciples of Him who said: It will be one flock
and one Shepherd." In 1868 the _Observer_ reported that at Findlay, 0.,
Lutherans, Presbyterians, Methodists, Congregationalists,
Weinbrennerians, and United Brethren celebrated the Lord's Supper in the
Presbyterian Church, and adds: "That was a celebration of the Lord's
Supper in the true spirit of the Gospel." (_L. u. W._ 1868,95.) In 1894
a conference of General Synod pastors in, and in the vicinity of,
Pittsburgh published, in substance, the declaration: "We have open
communion, and invite to it all members of the Evangelical Protestant
Churches." (_L. u. W._ 1895,58.) Till 1899 the Communion formula of the
"Ministerial Acts" of the General Synod contained a general invitation
to all members of other Churches in good standing or to all who love the
Lord Jesus. (_Luth. Quarterly_ 1909,33.) Though followed by a marked
decrease in the indiscriminate invitation to the Lord's Supper, the
omission of 1899 implied neither a criticism nor the abolishment of the
un-Lutheran practise. In 1900 Pastor Butler wrote in the _Evangelist_
that he agrees with the brethren who make the Lord's Supper a communion
with the Low and High-Church Episcopalians, the Methodists, Baptists,
Presbyterians, Congregationalists, etc. "It is men of Dr. Storr's type,"
says Butler, "who, of all others, commend Christianity to thoughtful
and devout people who care but little for the tweedledum and tweedledee
shadings of truth, which divide the religious world." (_L. u. W._ 1900,
246.) Dr. Valentine, in the _Lutheran Cyclopedia_ of 1905: The General
Synod "enacts no restrictive law against fellowship in pulpit or at
altar, but allows to both ministers and members the freedom of
conscience and love in this matter." (195.)
33. Other Forms of Unionism.--In his pamphlet _The General Synod and Her
Assailants_ J. A. Brown writes: "The General Synod was to aim not only
at union among Lutheran synods, but to be 'regardful of the
circumstances of the times, and of every casual rise and progress of
unity of sentiment among Christians in general, in order that the
blessed opportunities to promote concord, and unity, and the interest of
the Redeemer's kingdom may not pass by neglected and unavailing.' This
she has done by entering into correspondence with other denominations,
and joining in general efforts to evangelize the world. She has
cooperated with the American Bible and Tract Societies, and
Sunday-school Union, and like agencies, and excited the contempt of her
enemies by these 'unionistic efforts.' But it is believed she thus
secured the approval of God and of His true Church, of whatever name."
(24.) At Frederick, 1831, the Sunday-school Society of the General Synod
appointed Dr. Hazelius and the treasurer of the society to publish
German Sunday-school books and tracts in connection with a committee of
the Reformed Sunday-school Society. (29.) At Baltimore, 1833, a
committee was appointed to report on the advantages or disadvantages of
a union between the Reformed and Lutheran Churches. At Hagerstown, 1837,
the General Synod adopted the report of their committee stating with
respect to the proceedings of the East Pennsylvania Synod: "The
proceedings contain a resolution to be concerned as much as possible
about a closer union with the Church of Christ, and that a complete
union of the Evangelical Lutheran and of the Evangelical Reformed
Churches would have the most blessed results." (10.) At the same
convention the "Foreign Mission Society of the Evangelical German
Churches in the United States" was founded, which, however, did not
prove a success, having a temporary existence only. According to its
constitution, the Society was to embrace all churches or individuals of
German descent agreeing with the constitution and making an annual
contribution. (39.) Moravians and Reformed were among its officers. The
letter addressed in the interest of this Society to the Reformed and
other German Churches, inviting them to cooperate, states: "It is our
ardent desire that the German Church as such be united in this matter....
Because union in this as well as in all other matters is desirable for
the sake of peace, of Christian fellowship, and of true piety,... we,
therefore, cordially invite you, dear brethren [of the Reformed Churches,
etc.] to cooperate. It matters not who leads the way, as long as he is
in the right way." (44.) Synod resolved "that the invitations [to join
the Foreign Mission Society] which had been extended to all German
Churches without exception, suggest an appropriate admonition that,
being convinced that we all are brethren in Christ, our sectarian
divisions should be forgotten, and that they offer an occasion for the
brotherly cooperation of two Churches which are so close to each other
by national descent, similarity of doctrine, geographic neighborhood,
and matrimonial relationship." (13.) Synod furthermore declared "that
according to the meaning of this Synod the plan which is adopted should
include a connection with the American Board of Commissioners for
Foreign Missions." (13.) At Chambersburg, 1839, B. Kurtz presented a
resolution in reference to some plan for a union of effort in the
Foreign Missionary field with "our brethren of the German Reformed
Church." (33.) At the same convention the Foreign Mission Society
proposed organic union with the German Reformed. At Philadelphia, 1845,
the General Synod approved of the Reformed publications of the American
Tract Society, as also of those of the American Sunday-school Union, and
of the extension of the former's operations to the German population. At
New York, 1848, the Evangelical (Union) Synod of the West was invited to
join the General Synod. The same convention resolved that they "regard
with great pleasure the successful operations of the American Tract
Society, among the destitute population of our land, and will cheerfully
cooperate with them as opportunity may offer." (23.) A similar
resolution was adopted in 1864, at York. (_L. u. W._ 1864,284.) At
Dayton, 0., 1855, the General Synod declared its undiminished confidence
in the American Sunday-school Union, and cordially commended it to the
support and hearty cooperation of all churches. (23.) In 1859 (March 23)
the _Olive Branch_, edited by Dr. S. W. Harkey, stated that many
congregations connected with the General Synod were still using the
union hymn-book. Throughout its history ministers of the General Synod
served both Lutheran and sectarian congregations. (_L. u. W._ 1880,190.)
In 1863 Harkey proposed a union of all Lutherans in America on the basis
of the fundamental Christian doctrines, _i. e._, the doctrines held in
common by all evangelical Protestants, including the doctrine of the
divine obligation of the Sabbath which the Augsburg Confession rejects.
(_L. u. W._ 1863,91.) Reporting Dr. Crosby's statement with respect to
the differences of the old and new-school Presbyterians, "We can agree
to disagree," the _Observer_ exclaimed: "Oh, that the intolerant
dogmatists of the Lutheran Church would have attained such a degree of
Christian love and common sense!" (July 12, 1872.) In 1857 the
arch-unionist Philip Schaff wrote in _Rudelbach-Guericke's Zeitschrift_:
"To us America seems to be destined to become the phenix grave of all
European churches and sects, of Protestantism and Romanism." The General
Synod was certainly not a slacker in contributing her bit to fulfil this
prophecy.
UNION LETTER OP 1845.
34. Overtly Renouncing Lutheranism.--In 1845, at Philadelphia, the
General Synod appointed a committee to address, in a letter, the
Evangelical Church in Germany, in order to defend herself against
alleged detractors of her Lutheranism. But the signers of this letter,
Schmucker, Kurtz, Pohlmann, Morris, and H. I. Schmidt (then professor
in Hartwick Seminary), while believing that they were serving this
purpose, in reality made an unreserved confession of the General Synod's
complete apostasy from the Lutheran faith and Church. The letter states:
The General Synod requires only essential agreement in doctrinal views,
strict conformity being impossible in America. Peace can be maintained
only by an eclecticism, which adheres to essentials and passes over
non-important matters. Accordingly, the position of the General Synod is
not that of the Old Lutherans, but of the Union Church in Germany. "Now,
as to our doctrinal views, we confess without disguise, indeed, confess
it loudly and openly, that the great majority of us are not Old
Lutherans in the sense of a small party [Breslauer], which in Germany
bears this name. We are convinced that, if the great Luther were still
living, he himself would not be one of them." "In most of our
church-principles we stand on common ground with the Union Church of
Germany. The distinctive views which separate the Old Lutherans and the
Reformed Church we do not consider essential; and the tendency of the
so-called old Lutheran party seems to us to be behind our age." "The
great Luther made progress throughout his life, and at the end of his
career considered his work unfinished." The General Synod, the letter
continues, agreeing with Luther and the symbols in all essential points,
was endeavoring to complete his work. "The peculiar view of Luther on
the bodily presence of the Lord in the Lord's Supper has long ago been
abandoned by the great majority of our ministers, though some few of the
older German teachers and laymen still adhere to it. Regarding the
nature and meaning of the presence of the Lord in the Supper, liberty is
allowed as in the Evangelical [Union] Church of Germany. The majority of
our preachers believe in a peculiar presence and in a peculiar blessing
of the Lord, but of a spiritual nature only." "Nevertheless, we are
Evangelical Lutheran.... We believe that we may, as honest men, still
call ourselves Lutherans." The letter continues: Instead of organizing a
separate Evangelical [Union] Church, as it exists in Germany, ministers
coming to America should unite with the General Synod. They must,
however, not come with the purpose of remodeling the American Lutheran
Church according to European standards, which would but lead to failure,
strife, and separations. Similar attempts had been made by German
brethren through the _Kirchenzeitung_ [in Pittsburgh] and in Columbus
Seminary, with the result that the paper was losing its support and the
seminary was now suspended. (_Lutheraner_ 1846,43 f. Spaeth, 1, 330-348.)
This blunderful letter was published in Germany in the _Zeitschrift fuer
Protestantismus und Kirche_, Vol. 11, No. 4, Schmucker, Kurtz, and Morris
being personally present in Germany to defend the letter. Loehe remarked:
"We hope that they will carry the conviction from Germany that a time has
arrived different from the one when Kurtz first preached and collected in
Germany." (_Kirchl. Mitteilungen_, 1846,48.) A consequence of the letter
was that, in 1846, four ministers (Kunz, Wier, Isensee, and Meissner, who
immediately organized the Indianapolis Synod, which, however, had a
temporary existence only) left the Synod of the West, declaring that they
could no longer continue their connection with the General Synod because
in her letter she had publicly confessed that she had abandoned a part of
the Lutheran doctrine long ago. (_Lutheraner_ 1846,11.)
35. Letter Never Disowned by Synod.--The letter of 1845 is a frank
confession and adequate expression of the spirit of unionism then
prevailing in the General Synod. Indeed, several years later (1852, 1856),
H. I. Schmidt, who had signed the letter, expressed his belief in the
Lutheran doctrine of the Lord's Supper, and Dr. Morris declared the
letter "the greatest blunder" ever committed by the General Synod. The
General Synod as such, however, has never criticized, renounced, or
withdrawn the letter. Moreover, in 1848, at New York, the letter, in a
way, received official recognition by the General Synod. (19. 20. 50.)
In his _Denkschrift_ of 1875 Severinghaus explains: "Even if this letter
should have expressed the views of the great majority, it is,
nevertheless, only the testimony of a committee, which indeed was never
disavowed by the General Synod, but which can have no greater
significance than was given it by the authority of the committee of that
time." But Severinghaus continues: "Besides, it is _still_ true that the
majority among us are not old-Lutheran, and that, in general, we occupy
common ground with the Union Church of Germany in most of our
church-principles." The truth is that the leaders of the General Synod,
in 1845, did not occupy higher, on the contrary, even lower ground than
the Lutherans in the Prussian Union. They were not merely unionists,
but Calvinists, Puritans, and Methodists, openly defending Reformed
errors and practises. While the greater portion of the Prussian Union
retained the Lutheran doctrines and usages, the great majority of the
General Synod had sacrificed everything specifically Lutheran:
doctrines, liturgy, Scripture-lessons, church-festivals, customs, robes,
etc. Loehe declared in 1863 that the General Synod was a Union Church,
more so than any in Germany.
36. Actions in Keeping with Letter.--A number of subsequent actions of
the General Synod were in perfect agreement with the compromising letter
of 1845. At New York, 1848, the General Synod resolved "that Profs.
Reynolds, Schmidt, and Hay be a committee to correspond with the
Evangelical Synod of the West, for the purpose of establishing fraternal
intercourse between them and this Synod, and also with a view to the
union of all parts of the Evangelical Church in the great work of
preaching the Gospel to the German population of the West, and with a
reference to the organization of all parts of our Church in this country
upon a common basis." (23.) At Dayton, 0., 1855, the committee (W. J.
Mann and S. W. Harkey), appointed to open a correspondence with the
Evangelical Church Union of the West, report "that they addressed a
letter to the Synod named, which was favorably noticed in their
proceedings, and a delegate appointed by them to meet with us at this
time." Harkey was appointed as delegate to their next meeting. (15.) At
Pittsburgh, 1859, the delegate to the same body stated: "I wrote to that
body, expressing the very deep interest which we feel in their union.
The communication was very fraternally received and a delegate appointed
to meet us at this convention of General Synod, who is now present."
(32.) At the same convention the committee on Ecclesiastical
Correspondence remarked: "You were pleased to hear Mr. Dresel's
[delegate of the Evangelical Church Union of the West] statements by
which you are assured of the near relationship of the body which he
represents to the Lutheran Church generally. They, too, recognize the
Augsburg Confession as a part of their confessional basis, although they
have modified it by the admission of the Heidelberg Catechism and other
Reformed Confessions to equal authority, standing as they do upon the
basis of the United Evangelical Church of Prussia and other parts of
Germany. It is not our business here to criticize the action of the
State authorities in Germany by which that Union was established, or of
our brethren who found themselves in this country sympathizing with the
Church in which they had there been reared. It was enough for this body
to be assured that these brethren are of an evangelical character,
holding the great doctrines of Protestantism, and zealously laboring for
the diffusion of Christian knowledge and unfeigned piety among their
countrymen, especially in the great valley of the Mississippi. Although
distinct in doctrinal position and church organization, our relations to
them here are of the most interesting character, and you will be pleased
to hear of the progress which they are making in various departments of
Christian labor." (30.) At Washington, in 1869, the delegate to the
Evangelical Church Union of the West reported: "These brethren are
earnestly at work in the Master's cause, and in full sympathy with our
General Synod. Hoping that our fraternal relations may grow stronger
each revolving year," etc. (29.) In 1857 and 1859 the same cordial
attitude was assumed toward the Evangelical Church Diet (Kirchentag) in
Germany, a letter, in behalf of the Diet, having been received from
Bethmann-Hollweg, then Secretary of ecclesiastical affairs in Prussia.
(_Proceedings_ 1857,21.24; 1859,32.37.38.) In 1909 the General Synod
approved of the admission (in 1907) of the _Vereinslutheraner_ within
the Prussian Union into the "Allgemeine Evangelisch-Lutherische
Konferenz." (22.) Siding with the Evangelicals, the _Lutheran Observer_,
October 9, 1863, declared: "The Evangelical Union of the West forms a
wholesome balance against the old-Lutheran tendency of the Missouri
Synod." (_L. u. W._. 1863,379.) It was, therefore, not in dissonance
with the traditions of the General Synod, when, as late as 1909, the
_Lutheran Evangelist_ proposed a union of the General and Evangelical
Synods, maintaining that General Synodists and Evangelicals were
natural allies. (_L. u. W._ 1909,180. 421.)
CHRISTIAN UNION.
37. "Father" of Evangelical Alliance.--At Chambersburg, Pa., 1839, the
General Synod passed the resolution "that the thanks of this Synod be
presented to the American Society for the Promotion of Christian Union
_for this acceptable present_." The present received by the members of
Synod was Schmucker's "Appeal to the American Churches" or "New Plan of
Apostolic Protestant Union." The purpose of this book was to promote
union among the Protestant denominations on the basis of the ecumenical
confessions. It proved to be a powerful factor in the movement which
resulted in the organization of the Evangelical Alliance. Schmucker
himself, together with Kurtz and Morris, attended the "World's
Convention" at London in 1846, where they united with 800 ministers of
50 different denominations in founding the Alliance, which assumed the
motto: "_Unum corpus sumus in Christo_," Schmucker, in particular being
feted as the "Father" of this union. Naturally enough also the General
Synod took a lively interest in the Alliance, though it was not a union
of churches or of representatives of churches, but of individual
Christians who were in sympathy with its aims. In 1869, for example, the
General Synod "resolved that the delegates to the World's Evangelical
Alliance, appointed at Harrisburg, be continued with the addition of
Rev. S. Sprecher, D. D., and Rev. S. S. Schmucker, D. D." (64.) At the
international conferences of the Alliance the General Synod was
regularly represented, also at its last convention in 1914 at Basel. On
a local meeting of the Alliance in 1902, at Easton, Pa., the
_Lutherische Kirchenblatt_ (General Council) reported, in substance, as
follows: "More than 60 delegates were present: Baptists, Methodists,
Congregationalists, Evangelicals, Free Baptists, Lutherans (General
Synod and General Council), Mennonites, Moravians, Presbyterians,
Episcopalians, Reformed, Reformed Presbyterians, and United
Evangelicals. Resolutions formulated by a committee, of which Dr.
Alleman of the General Synod was a member, were unanimously adopted
according to which members of one congregation may be received by
another in a manner 'that no question of church-polity or doctrine need
ever arise.' It was furthermore resolved that in smaller cities and
country congregations union services be held throughout the state."
(_Observer_, Dec. 26, 1903.) The following nine articles, which
Schmucker viewed as a sufficient basis for every kind of Christian union
and cooperation, were adopted by the Alliance at London: "1. The divine
inspiration, authority, and sufficiency of the Holy Scriptures. 2. The
right and duty of private judgment in the interpretation of the Holy
Scripture. 3. The unity of the Godhead and the trinity of Persons
therein. 4. The utter depravity of human nature in consequence of the
fall. 5. The incarnation of the Son of God, His work of atonement for
sinners of mankind, and His mediatorial intercession and reign. 6. The
justification of the sinner by faith alone. 7. The work of the Holy
Spirit in the conversion and sanctification of the sinner. 8. The
immortality of the soul, the resurrection of the body, the judgment of
the world by our Lord Jesus Christ, with the eternal blessedness of the
righteous and the eternal punishment of the wicked. 9. The divine
institution of Christian ministry, and the obligation and perpetuity of
the ordinance of Baptism and the Lord's Supper."
38. "Apostolic Protestant Union."--The plan of Christian Union hatched
by Schmucker and recommended by the General Synod is delineated in a
report presented 1848, at New York, by the Committee of Conference on
Christian Union appointed at the previous session of the General Synod,
as follows: "The kind of union to which this body was disposed to invite
the several evangelical denominations, and in which she felt it a duty
and a pleasure to lead the way in hope of virtually healing the 'Great
Schism' of Protestantism, is also definitely delineated by the following
portraiture: 'The design to be aimed at shall be not to amalgamate the
several denominations into one church, nor to impair in any degree the
independent control of each denomination over its own affairs and
interests, but to present to the world a more formal profession and
practical proof of our mutual recognition of each other as integral
parts of the visible Church of Christ on earth, as well as our
fundamental unity of faith and readiness to cooperate harmoniously in
the advancement of objects of common interest." (11.) "An article was
prepared in which, after a glance at the solemn injunction of the Savior
and His apostles to preserve unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace,
the nature and extent of the union prevailing in the primitive churches
was delineated as consisting of the following features: a. unity of
name; b. unity in fundamental doctrines, whilst diversity in
nonessentials was concealed; c. mutual acknowledgment of each other's
acts of discipline; d. sacramental and ministerial intercommunion; e.
convention of the different churches of the land in synod or council
for mutual consultation or ecclesiastical regulation." (12.) "In
contrast with this picture of primitive union, the present deplorable
divided and conflicting state of the Church was delineated.... In hope
of removing the principal evils of these denominational divisions, your
committee projected a scheme of Christian union based (in the following
four preliminary principles for the guarantee of the rights of
individual conscience and denominational religious liberty: 1. This plan
must require of no one the renunciation of any doctrine or opinion
believed by him to be true, nor the profession of anything he regards as
erroneous; nor does the accession of any denomination to this union
imply any sanction of the peculiarities of any other. 2. It must concede
to every denomination the right to retain its own organization for
government, discipline, and worship. 3. It must not prevent the
discussion of the points of difference between the several associated
denominations, but only require that it be done in the spirit of love.
4. It must either in all or at least some of its features be applicable
to all evangelical, fundamentally orthodox [non-Unitarian] churches, and
each denomination may at option adopt any or all of its features." (12.)
The plan of union offered in accordance with these principles by
Schmucker and the committee embraces the following features: 1. Adoption
of the nine doctrinal articles of the Evangelical Alliance. 2. Regular
interchange of delegates between the supreme judicatories of the several
denominations. 3. Cooperation of the different associated churches in
voluntary societies, notably such as Bible, Tract, Sabbath-school and
Foreign Mission Societies. 4. The more extensive use of the Bible as a
textbook in theological, congregational, and Sunday-school institutions.
5. Occasional free sacramental communion by all whose views of duty
allow it. 6. A general, stated anniversary celebration and smaller state
celebrations, also representation at the ecumenical conventions of the
Evangelical Alliance. (12.) The report concludes: "This plan was sent by
your committee in the form of a proof-sheet to about fifty of the most
distinguished and influential divines of ten different denominations,
and these not only returned letters expressing their substantial
approbation of the plan, but nearly all of them united with your
committee in sending it out over their own signatures as an overture of
Christian union, submitted for the consideration of the Evangelical
denominations in the United States." (13.)
39. Endorsed by the General Synod.--"According to the conception of
prominent leaders," says Dr. Jacobs, "the General Synod was nothing more
than the realization of Zinzendorf's dream of 1742, which the coming of
Muhlenberg had so quickly dissipated." (_History_, 304.) But judged by
its minutes, what Jacobs limits to its "prominent leaders" is true of
the General Synod as such. Synod certainly did not discourage Schmucker
in his union schemes. In 1839, at Chambersburg, the General Synod was
immediately interested in his "Plan of Apostolic Protestant Union." The
committee appointed in the matter recommended "that Synod approve of the
several features of the union plan, and submit it for serious
consideration to its District Synods." (19.) A following convention
appointed Schmucker, Krauth, and Miller as a Committee of Conference on
Christian Union to confer with similar committees and prominent
individuals of different denominations "on the great subject of
Christian Union." At New York, 1848, Synod resolved that the report on
Christian Union be adopted, and the Committee on Christian Union be
continued." (15.) At Charleston, 1850, the Committee of Conference
remarked in its report: "As the general principles of the Apostolic
Christian Union, _adopted by this body_, were fully detailed in our last
report, it is deemed unnecessary to enlarge on them in this place."
(21.) Schmucker continued his efforts till the year of his death, 1873,
when again he made an appeal to the General Synod "for an advisory union
among all Evangelical denominations" as an "additional aid to the
promotion of the designs of the World's Evangelical Alliance." (53.) The
committee to whom Schmucker's letter and his printed appeal was referred,
recommended the resolution: "Resolved, That while this General Synod
approves of the ends contemplated by the appeal, and commends the
fraternal spirit of its author, yet it does not deem it necessary for
the present to take any further action towards Christian union than that
which is already upon record." (53.) Schmucker's ideas concerning
Christian union, however, were not abandoned by the General Synod.
Moreover, in a way, his plans materialized in the Federal Council,
consisting of about 30 Protestant bodies, at the organization of which,
in 1905, the General Synod was represented by Wenner, Remensnyder,
Grosscup, and Bauslin. (_L. u. W._ 1906, 33.) Theologically the Federal
Council does not even measure up to the ideals of Schmucker, inasmuch as
it reduced the nine points of the Evangelical Alliance, which Schmucker
viewed as essential, to the meager confession of "Jesus Christ as their
divine Lord and Savior," which even Unitarians will not hesitate to
subscribe to. Besides, Seventh-day Adventists, Christians, Friends, and
other bodies tainted with Unitarianism are even now connected with the
Federal Council. In 1909 the General Synod "heartily endorsed the work
of the Federal Council." (115.) In 1917 Synod adopted the report of its
delegates to the Council which said, in part: "It was a great privilege
to have participated in this historic council. As the federation idea
originated in the United States in the mind and heart of a learned and
devout Lutheran, Dr. Samuel S. Schmucker, it was a great joy and
satisfaction to see and participate in this consummation of Dr.
Schmucker's hope of all Protestant bodies in council and cooperation in
the one common task of propagating the kingdom of God in society and
throughout the world." (27.) The ultimate aim of the Federal Council
evidently is an amalgamation of all Protestant Churches. And there are,
even now, General Synodists who are ready to countenance this
eventuality. In the _Christian Herald_, December 12, 1917, Dr. J. B.
Remensnyder spoke of the essential unity of Protestantism separated
only by minor differences, and of "the practical possibility of a larger
union,--one world-wide Protestant Church of Christ," to be brought about
by mutual surrender of secondary differences. "It will not come about,"
says Remensnyder, "by one denomination insisting absolutely on its
doctrinal type." In the _Lutheran Church Work and Observer_, May 23,
1918, p. 7 f., a General Synod pastor wrote: "With forms of religion and
denominational differences we have nothing to do.... Let each one have
his own faith, his own light and hope." "There come moments when we
forget our differences and our various labels, when we arise above the
partial, the individual, and sectarian, when a common impulse drives us
headlong into the arms of trust and general comradeship...."
THEOLOGY REFORMED.
40. Championing Reformed Doctrines.--Wherever Lutherans unite with the
Reformed, the former gradually sink to the level of the latter. Already
by declaring the differences between the two Churches irrelevant, the
Lutheran truths are actually sacrificed and denied. Unionism always
breaks the backbone, and outrages the conscience, of true Lutheranism.
And naturally enough, the refusal to confess the Lutheran truth is but
too frequently followed by eager endorsement and fanatical defense of
the opposite errors. This is fully borne out by the history of the
General Synod. As the years rolled on, the Reformed lineaments, at first
manifesting themselves in unionism, came out in ever bolder relief. The
distinctive Lutheran doctrines of the Lord's Supper, the person of
Christ, Baptism, absolution, infant faith, the means of grace, the
Sabbath, abstinence, separation of State and Church, etc., were all
rejected and assailed by the most prominent leaders of the General
Synod. And the unionistic spirit, with which also the most conservative
within the General Synod were infected, paralyzed the courage of the men
who, in a measure, saw and loved the light, and should have been bold in
confessing the truth and uncompromising in defending it against the
opposite errors. In 1831, in deference to sectarianism, the publication
of the _Lutheran Observer_ was transferred to Baltimore, with Dr. Morris
as editor, because it was feared that the Presbyterians might take
offense at the title "Lutheran" if, as was originally planned, it was
published at Gettysburg with the professors as editors! It was in the
interest of eliminating the specific Lutheran doctrines that, in 1845,
at Philadelphia, a committee (Schmucker, Morris, Schmidt, Pohlman,
Kurtz) was appointed to formulate and present to the next convention an
abstract of the doctrines and usages of the American Lutheran Church, on
the order of the Abstract requested in 1844 by the Maryland Synod, in
which the Lutheran doctrine of the Real Presence was rejected. The
report was made at Charleston, S. C., 1850, but "laid on the table, and
the committee discharged from further duty." (27.) In 1855 a bold effort
was made to abandon the Augsburg Confession in favor of the notorious
Definite Platform, from which all specifically Lutheran doctrines had
been eliminated in order to open the way officially for the tenets
peculiar to Reformed theology. Some of the fanatics were not even
willing to tolerate Lutheran doctrine in the General Synod. When in 1852
the Pennsylvania Synod resolved to reunite with the General Synod, and
called upon all Lutherans in America to follow her example, the
_Observer_, December 21, 1852, published a declaration stating that the
Augsburg Confession taught the real presence of the body and blood of
Christ in the Lord's Supper and several other things, which were
rejected by almost all of the friends and promoters of the General
Synod, and that it was sinful to unite with Lutherans who adhered to
such doctrines. (_Lutheraner_, Dec. 21, 1852.) Former members of the
North Illinois Synod declared in the _Observer_ of January 20, 1860: "We
do not believe in the bodily presence, baptismal regeneration, the
ceremonies of the mass, and in similar nonsense." (_L. u. W._ 1860, 93.)
As late as 1896 the Allegheny Synod refused to ordain a candidate
because he did not hold that the Sunday was of divine institution.
(_L. u. W._ 1896, 281.)
41. Sailing under False Colors.--Foremost and boldest among the Reformed
theologians within the General Synod were S. S. Schmucker and B. Kurtz,
who nevertheless insisted on sailing under the Lutheran flag. Brazenly
claiming to be the true representatives of Lutheranism, they at the same
time assailed the Lutheran and defended the Reformed doctrines with
ultra Calvinistic zeal and bigotry. They opposed the adoption of all the
Lutheran symbols (especially of the Formula of Concord), as well as the
unqualified subscription to the Augsburg Confession, because they were
imbued with the Reformed spirit and absolute strangers to, and enemies
of, everything distinctive of, and essential to, true Lutheranism.
(_L. u. W._ 1866, 21.) In his _Popular Theology_, published for the
first time in 1834, Schmucker says: "But whilst the Reformers [Luther
and Zwingli] agreed in rejecting this papal error [transubstantiation],
it is much to be regretted that they could neither harmonize among
themselves as to what should be substituted in its stead, nor consent to
walk together in love, when they could not entirely accord in opinion....
Alas! that men, distinguished so highly for intellect, and chosen of God
to accomplish so great a work, should betray such a glaring want of
liberality toward each other; that, having gloriously cooperated in
vanquishing the papal beast, they should turn their weapons against each
other, for a point not decided in Scripture, and therefore of minor
importance!" (Edition 1848, p. 297.) With respect to the presence of
Christ in the Lord's Supper, Schmucker, in his _Popular Theology_,
distinguishes between the substantial, the influential, and the
symbolical presence and the bald symbolical representation. Then he
continues: "After a protracted and unprofitable struggle, the Lutheran
Church has long since settled down in the happy conviction that on this,
as on all other subjects not clearly determined by the inspired Volume,
her sons shall be left to follow the dictates of their own conscience,
having none to molest them or make them afraid. In the Lutheran Church
in this country each of the above views has some advocates, though the
great body of our divines, if we mistake not, embraces either the second
or third." (305.) Also in his _Portraiture of Lutheranism_ (1840)
Schmucker maintained that the Lutheran Church no longer demands the
acknowledgment of the real presence in the Eucharist, Luther himself,
toward the end of his life, having admitted that he had gone too far in
this matter.
42. Moses Stuart's Declaration.--Referring to the statements quoted from
Schmucker's _Popular Theology_, Prof. Moses Stuart of Andover said in
the _Bibliotheca Sacra_ of 1844: "I should not do justice to the
Lutheran Church of recent times if I did not say that many within its
precincts have loudly called in question the old doctrine of Luther and
his compeers and successors in respect to consubstantiation [real
presence]. The battle has been fought of late with great power; and
scarcely a doubt remains that the more enlightened of the Lutherans are
either renouncing his views, or coming to the position that they are not
worth contending for. In this country such is clearly the case. Dr. S.
S. Schmucker, the able and excellent exponent of the Lutheran theology
in this country, in his work, called _Popular Theology_, has told us
that they are 'settled down in the happy conviction that on this, and on
all other subjects not clearly determined by the inspired Volume, her
sons shall be left to follow the dictates of their own conscience,
having none to molest or make them afraid.' The great body of Lutheran
divines among us, according to the same writer, doubt or deny the
corporeal or physical presence of Christ in the elements of the
Eucharist. It is not difficult to predict that ere long the great mass
of well-informed Lutherans, at least in this country, will be
substantially united, in regard to this subject, with the other Reformed
Churches." (Spaeth, _C. P. Krauth_, 1, 115.)
43. Reformed Attitude of the "Observer."--Commenting on B. Kurtz, editor
of the _Lutheran, Observer_, Dr. Spaeth says: "For years and years he
was indefatigable in his coarse and irreverential, yea, blasphemous
attacks upon what was set forth as most sacred in the Confessions of the
Lutheran Church. The loyal adherents of the historical faith of the
Augsburg Confession were denounced as 'resurrectionists of elemental,
undeveloped, halting, stumbling, and staggering humanity,' as priests
ready 'to immolate bright meridian splendor on the altar of misty, musky
dust,' men bent on going backward, and consequently, of necessity, going
downward!" Every distinctive doctrine and usage of Lutheranism was
ridiculed and assailed, in the _Lutheran Observer_, by Kurtz and his
theological affinities. In its issue of June 29, 1849, C.P. Krauth, in
an article on the question of Christ's presence in the Eucharist, wrote:
"From this high position [of the Lutheran confessions, held by some
Lutherans in America] there are almost all shades of dissent and
descent, not only to that which is popularly called the Zwinglian, and
of which the _Lutheran Observer_ may be considered the exponent, but yet
lower to that which we may call, for want of a better name, Socinian."
(Spaeth I, 162.) A few weeks prior (June 8) Kurtz had declared that in
the 60 Lutheran congregations in Maryland not 30 American-born members
could be found who knew what "bodily presence" in the Lord's Supper
meant, much less believed in it. The more the free-thinking, practical,
and common-sense people the United States got acquainted with this
doctrine, the less they would take to it. The same was true of other
obsolete doctrines, such as baptismal regeneration. (_Lutheraner_,
October 30, 1849.) In January of 1854 the _Observer_ announced that an
old manuscript had been discovered in Germany, according to which
Luther, shortly before his death, retracted his controversy against the
Sacramentarians. (_Lutheraner_ 10, 108; cf. 2, 47.) In November of the
same year the _Observer_ declared that Profs. Heppe and Ebrard had
proved that the doctrine of the Lutheran Church on the Lord's Supper was
not the one of Luther, but that of the later Melanchthon. (_Lutheraner_
11, 71.) Anspach, coeditor of the _Observer_, stated in its number of
November 12, 1858: "Difference of opinion concerning the Sacraments is
tolerated in the General Synod, and although there are some among our
brethren who believe in the real presence of our Savior in the Lord's
Supper in a higher sense than others, they nevertheless hold that this
takes place in a spiritual and supernatural manner." (_L. u. W._ 1859,
30.) In its issue of June 29, 1860, the _Observer_ protested: "We can
never subscribe to the errors of the Augsburg Confession.... Let a
separation take place. Let those who are able to swallow the errors of
the sixteenth century, which have long ago been hissed from the stage,
rally around the banner: 'The true body and the true blood of Christ in
a natural manner in the elements,' and on the back side: 'Regeneration
by Baptism and priestly absolution essential to true Lutheranism'! This
is the theology of the symbolists. This papistical theology we cannot
and will not subscribe to in America. For it is a theology which is not
drawn from the Bible, but from the Roman Bible." In 1861 the _Observer_
remarked that the Missouri, Buffalo, and other Old Lutherans practise
ceremonies and adhere to doctrines which are as odious to many of us as
those in vogue in the Roman Church. (March 8.) Two years prior the
_Observer_ had blasphemously scoffed at the Lutheran Communion Liturgy
as "altar antics." (_L. u. W._ 1860, 31.) _Observer_, February 12,
1864: "Christ is at the right hand of God in heaven. How, then, can we
speak of Christ's body and blood as present in the Sacrament since no
such body did exist for these 1800 years, never since His ascension into
glory?" (_L. u. W._ 1864, 125.) November 7, 1862: "But who exercises
faith in infant baptism? Not the child, but the father or the sponsor,"
etc. (_L. u. W._ 1862, 373.) In 1904 the _Observer_ denied that a child
believes and is regenerated by Baptism. (_L. u. W._ 1904, 471.)
According to the _Observer_ of 1901 a man may become a true Christian
even without any knowledge of the Gospel and of Christ. (_L. u. W._
1901, 306.) _Observer_, March 27, 1868: "God's Book is a total
abstinence book, and God's Son never made intoxicating wine." In 1867
the _American Lutheran_ (published by the Hartwick Synod and later
merged with the _Lutheran Observer_), teaching the baldest Zwinglianism,
maintained that Baptism is a mere sign and seal of membership in the
visible Church on earth and no more regeneration itself than the
sign-board "Hotel" is itself the hotel. (_L. u. W._ 1867, 125.) The
_Lutheran Evangelist_, merged in 1909 into the _Observer_ and always
disowning every doctrine distinctive of Lutheranism, stated January 20,
1899: The pastors of the General Synod are too sensible to believe "so
foolish a dogma as infant faith." (_L. u. W._ 1899, 27.) The same paper
had declared in 1892: "They are bad Lutherans who do not view the
Sabbath as commanded by God. If the Augsburg Confession had been written
in our day, it would have delivered no uncertain testimony with respect
to the divine obligation of the Day of the Lord." The _Lutheran Church
Work and Observer_, the official organ of the General Synod, wrote
September 12, 1918: "The General Synod has always stood on the side of
temperance.... Almost all her ministers have been abstainers and
advocates of total abstinence. They have ever aligned themselves with
the temperance forces of the country to put the American saloon out of
business." The first resolution in favor of the temperance cause,
referred to in the minutes of the General Synod, was adopted in 1831 by
the Hartwick Synod. (9.)
44. General Synod Involved as Such.--In spite of its noncommittal policy
as to doctrine, the General Synod also as such has not been able to
conceal its distinctively Reformed complexion. The letter of 1845 admits
and approves of the fact that Luther's doctrine of the bodily presence
of the Lord's Supper had long ago been abandoned by the great majority
of the ministers of the General Synod. It was the Reformed theology,
taught in the books of Schmucker, in the books of Kurtz, in the
_Observer_ edited by Kurtz, and in the _Hirtenstimme_, published by
Weyl, against which Wyneken protested in 1845, at Philadelphia. But his
appeal for true Lutheranism over against Reformedism impressed the
General Synod merely as funny (spasshaft), and his motion in the matter
was tabled. Wyneken was compelled to sever his connection with a body
whose every prominent feature was Reformed. The confessional Resolution
adopted 1864 at York rejects, as will be explained later, the Lutheran
doctrines of the real presence, absolution, and the Sunday. The minutes
of the General Synod contain frequent resolutions in favor of the
sectarian views of the Sabbath, total abstinence, the introduction of
the Bible into the State schools, etc. At New York, 1848, Synod declared
"that we heartily approve of the 'New York City Temperance Society,
organized on Christian principles,' and believe it to be the only system
of operation that will be ultimately successful and triumphant; that we
commend this Society to the attention of the Synods in connection with
this body, and to our churches generally, and urge them to prosecute
this great and philanthropic enterprise upon the Christian principles
adopted by this Society." (8.) At Harrisburg, 1885, the resolutions were
adopted "that we do hereby declare our belief in the divine authority of
the Christian Sabbath as a day of sacred rest and religious instruction
and worship of Almighty God; that we recommend to the respective Synods
of the General Synod that they take such action from time to time as
shall lead to more frequent and earnest appeals from all the pulpits of
our Church upon this all-important subject; that with uplifted hands to
that God who is the Father of us all we unceasingly implore that the day
be hastened when all the earth shall be freed from the power of sin, and
when life shall be one universal Sabbath to the ends of the earth."
(69.) (_Proceedings_ 1848,44; 1853,28; 1864,45; 1883,46; 1887,61; etc.)
In 1854 T. N. Kurtz of Baltimore published a "Lutheran Almanac,"
featuring on its title-page the pictures of Luther, Zwingli, and Calvin
as "those great Reformers," and listing as "great theologians of the
Lutheran Church" also the names of Herder, Paulus, Ammon, Bretschneider,
Wegscheider, Gesenius, Roehr, etc. (_Lutheraner_ 10,15.) This is a
true-to-life picture of the General Synod in her palmiest days--
Zwinglianism, Methodism, Rationalism being the most protruding features.
(4,198.)
45. Verdict of Contemporaries.--In his pamphlet _The Distress of the
German Lutherans in America_, Wyneken said with special reference to the
English part of the General Synod: "They have totally fallen away from
the faith of the fathers. Though enthusiastic over the name 'Lutheran'
and zealous in spreading the so-called 'Lutheran' Church, they, in a
most shameful and foolhardy manner, attack the doctrines of our Church
and seek to spread their errors in sermons, periodicals, and newspapers,
notably the doctrines of Baptism and the Lord's Supper and the connected
important doctrines of grace, of the two natures in Christ, etc. ...
Besides, they are ardent advocates of 'new measures' and altogether
Methodistic in their method of conversion." In 1845, after severing his
connection with the General Synod on account of its refusal to renounce
the Reformed doctrines and usages advocated by Schmucker, Kurtz, and
Weyl, Wyneken denounced the General Synod as "Reformed in doctrine,
Methodistic in practise, and laboring for the ruin of the Church, whose
name she falsely bears." (_Lutheraner_ 1845,96.) In a letter to Walther,
dated December 11, 1844, Dr. Sihler wrote: "Our main enemies here in
Ohio are not only the Methodists, but also the false brethren, the
so-called General Synod, which, as generally known, is decidedly
Reformed in the doctrine of the Sacraments, and in its practise
decidedly Methodistic." Again, in 1858, Sihler branded Kurtz, Schmucker,
and others as "open counterfeiters, Calvinists, Methodists, Unionists,
and traitors and destroyers of the Lutheran Church." (_L. u. W._ 1858,
137.) The _Lutheran Standard_, October 27, 1847, declared: "History has
already recorded it for posterity that the General Synod is not an
Evangelical Lutheran body, inasmuch as it fails to adhere to just those
doctrines by which the Evangelical Lutheran Church differs from other
denominations. History declares that the General Synod has expressly
and without disguise renounced the distinctive doctrines of Lutheranism,
and at the same time declared herself in favor of Union and Methodistic
practise." (_Lutheraner_ 2,56; 4,46.) The _Evangelical Lutheran_,
published at Springfield, O., remarked that Schmucker and his compeers
were engaged in selling Reformed goods under the trademark of
Lutheranism. (April 9, 1868.) Dr. Mann, who himself for many years had
intimate connections with Philip Schaff, wrote in the _Lutherische
Zeitschrift_ of November 17, 1866: "It is the peculiarity of the
un-Lutheran party [of the General Synod] that it is essentially
committed to Reformed sentiments. Dr. Schmucker has long ago openly
confessed views which are in open conflict with the doctrines of the
Lutheran symbols, but harmonize with those of the Reformed confessions,
especially of the Zwinglian type. In this sense many of his publications
are written, and in this sense he has taught for many, many years in a
Lutheran seminary. He is inspired by a Zwinglian-Reformed spirit, and
has endeavored to imbue his scholars with it. It has never dawned on him
and them what is properly the Lutheran view of Christianity. He himself
has not the least sympathy for it." (Spaeth, _A. Mann_, 189 f.) In 1873
the _Lutheran Visitor_ in the South charged the General Synod with
fostering disloyalty to, and causing defections from, the Lutheran
Church by destroying the peculiarly distinctive marks of Lutheranism.
(_L. u. W._ 1873,94.)
REVIVALISM.
46. "Justification by Sensation."--According to the Bible and the
Lutheran Church the divine measures for converting sinners are the
preaching of the pure Gospel and the administering of the unadulterated
Sacraments. "New-measurism," then, as the very term indicates, is a
human makeshift. Indeed, the Lutheran Church approves of all methods,
also new measures, which merely serve to bring the divine means of grace
into motion and men in contact with them. But it condemns all methods
and measures, new or old, which hinder or corrupt or eliminate the
divine means of grace. The new measures introduced by revivalism,
however, are just such corruptions of, and substitutes for, the divine
means of grace. "Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of
God"--of this truth New-measurism is a denial _in toto_. New-measurism
denies the Gospel-truth that God is already reconciled and has already
pardoned sinners. It denies that this pardon is freely offered in the
unconditional promises of God's Word and in the Sacraments, the seals
of grace. It denies that justifying and saving faith is the mere trust
in these promises of God. It denies that faith in these promises alone
engenders divine assurance of pardon. It mistakes, as C. P. Krauth put
it, justification by sensation for justification by faith. (Spaeth 2,
35.) It holds that one cannot be assured of grace without certain
peculiar sensations, emotions, and feelings in his heart. It denies that
faith is purely a gift of God, and teaches that man must cooperate in
his own conversion. It insists that special measures must be resorted to
in order to frighten men into doing their share of conversion, and to
produce the emotional and neurotic conditions which warrant assurance of
grace. As such measures it prescribes emotional appeals, shrieking and
shouting in preaching and praying, special prayer-meetings, the anxious
bench, protracted meetings, camp-meetings, etc. Revivalism brands men as
spiritually dead and unconverted who, like Walther and Wyneken, base
their assurance of grace, not on alleged feelings and spiritual
experiences, but on the clear and unmistakable promises of God in His
Word and Sacraments. New-measurism condemns and ridicules the old
methods of catechetical instruction, doctrinal preaching, and of
administering the Sacraments as spiritually ineffective and productive
merely of head Christianity and dead orthodoxy. "Jist git the spirit
started," said a Methodist to C. P. Krauth, "and then it works like
smoke." "Very much like smoke, I guess," answered Krauth. (1,67.)
Indeed, Pelagianists, who believe that conversion is a mere outward
moral improvement, effected by man's own free will; Romanists, who teach
that man can and must by his own efforts and works earn the grace of
God; Arminians and Synergists, who believe in man's ability to cooperate
in his own conversion and salvation; Calvinists, who, denying universal
grace, base their insurance on special marks of grace in their own
hearts and lives; Reformedists and enthusiasts, who deny that Word and
Sacraments are the only means of grace, collative as well as operative;
Pietists, who insist that the terrors of conscience must be of a
peculiar nature and degree, and that faith must be accompanied by a
happiness and a sanctification of a special kind and measure before a
sinner may fully be assured of his pardon and conversion,--they all may
be, and, in fact, naturally are, in sympathy with one or the other form
of New-measurism and revivalism; but Lutherans, who believe in a Gospel
of real pardon and power--never. If the Lutheran doctrine of grace and
the means of grace is Scriptural, then the work-nerve-and-emotion
Christianity of New-measurism is wrong, and _vice versa_. Not
Lutheranism, but Arminianism, Enthusiasm, and Reformedism are the
premises of revivalism. The fact that New-measurism was enthusiastically
hailed, defended, and extensively introduced by her leading men, is but
a further proof that the spirit then rampant in the General Synod was
not the spirit of Lutheranism.
47. Lutherans Vying with the Fanatics.--The pietism and unionism of
Muhlenberg and his colaborers was the door through which, in the days of
Wesley and Whitefield, revivalism had found an early, though limited,
entrance into the Lutheran Church. And in the course of its history the
General Synod was zealous in cultivating and developing the evil
inheritance of their fathers. It sounds like a warning against the
threatening contagion when D. F. Schaeffer, in the Pastoral Letter of
1831, admonishes: "Let us faithfully adhere to the Word of God and
follow its precepts unswervingly; let us not follow after those whose
enthusiastic behavior is more apt to promote disorder and confusion than
true edification. Against such we would warn in a most friendly manner,
even if they be never so beloved. As Lutherans we admonish you: 'Be ye
therefore followers of God, as dear children; and walk in love, as
Christ also hath loved us, and hath given Himself for us an offering and
a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savor.'" (25.) But the General
Synod herself had already opened the door for, and encouraged, the
movement. According to Chapter XVI of the constitution adopted 1829 for
the District Synods, the annual Special Conferences were to meet for two
days, especially in order "by practical preaching to awaken and convert
sinners and to edify believers." (41.) In the following year the
Hartwick Synod was organized, in order more fully to satisfy the craving
of their members for revivals. At the convention of the General Synod at
Frederick, 1831, a committee reported that the Hartwick Synod, having
unanimously voted to join the General Synod, was divided into two
conferences which were to meet as often as possible, and whose chief
business it was "by earnest and practical sermons to awaken and convert
sinners, and to encourage and edify Christians." (9.) At Baltimore,
1833, the Ohio Synod was censured for certain utterances against the
"new measures" adopted within the General Synod. Finding revivalism in
the Hartwick Synod not advanced enough, a few of its members, in 1837,
organized the Franckean Synod, in order to press "new measures" to the
extreme. On the Hartwick Synod the withdrawal acted as an impulse for a
greater activity in the same direction. At Chambersburg, 1839, a
committee reported on the meeting of this synod held in 1838: "We take
particular pleasure in remarking that the proceedings of this Synod,
especially the statements contained in the annual address of its
President, afford the most satisfactory evidence that this Synod is
decidedly in favor of revivals of religion. Protracted meetings have
been held in various parts, and the Lord has especially blessed them;
from which we have reason to believe that true and undefiled religion
is more and more abounding within its limits. All the religious
operations of the day, such as Tract Societies, Temperance Societies,
etc., etc., enjoy the hearty support of this Synod." (13.) The minutes
of the General Synod, of the District Synods, the _Lutheran Observer_,
etc., soon began to teem with reports on revivals, visitations,
outpourings, refreshing showers, etc. (_L. u. W._ 1857, 27.) At the
convention of the Maryland Synod in Frederick, 1842, Harkey proposed the
publication of the _Revivalist_, a monthly to be devoted to the history
and defense of revivals, revival intelligence, the best measures and
means of promoting and managing revivals--a plan which Synod declined as
"inexpedient." At the same convention B. Kurtz, the advocate of the
wildest revivalism, succeeded in having a committee appointed to draft a
minute expressive of the views of Synod in regard to "new measures." The
report was discussed for two days, when it was referred back to the
committee, and at the next meeting of Synod the committee was excused
from further consideration of the subject. (Spaeth 1, 111.) As late as
1876 the _American Lutheran_ declared that the great majority of the
pastors and congregations of the General Synod favored revivals; that
they managed them on the lines of those conducted by Moody and Sankey;
that some of the congregations employed sectarian preachers for
protracted meetings. (_L. u. W._ 1876, 182.) When, in 1877, the
_American Lutheran_ merged into the _Observer_, Dr. Conrad solemnly
promised to continue defending revivalism. (_L. u. W._ 1877, 60.) In
1908, referring to revivals still occasionally reported in the
_Observer_, the _Lutherische Herold_ remarked that this sort of
enthusiasm, formerly the rule in the Eastern and Central States, had as
yet not nearly died out, _e. g._, in the General Synod congregations of
Eastern and Central Pennsylvania. (_L. u. W._ 1908, 322.) Down to 1918
occasional revivals were held or participated in by congregations and
ministers of the General Synod. Several years ago Rev. Bell cooperated
in a revival conducted by Billy Sunday in Toledo, etc. According to
_Church Work and Observer_, November 9, 1916, the General Synod church
at Gettysburg, Pa., conducted a joint revival with Presbyterians,
Methodists, and United Brethren.
48. "The Lever of Archimedes."--In the revival agitation which swept
over America in the decades following 1830 practically all of the
English Lutheran churches (the German churches, in part, stood aloof)
caught the contagion in a malignant form and in great numbers. While
even Prof. J. W. Nevin, Schaff's colleague at Mercersburg, in his book
_The Anxious Bench_ (1844), antagonized the extravagances of a movement
which was germane to his own church, Lutherans such as Schmucker, Kurtz,
Harkey, Passavant, and many others, became extremists in practising,
and fanatics in advocating, "new measures" as the most needful and only
effective methods of accelerating and deepening conversion and reviving
the Lutheran Church. Vying in their wild extravagances with the most
fanatical of the sects, Lutherans, in not a few places, condemned as
spiritually dead formalists, head and memory Christians, all who adhered
to the sound principles and old ways of Lutheranism. (Gerberding, _The
Way of Life_, 197 ff.) S. L. Harkey, himself a fiery New-measurist,
describes a revival held in connection with the convention of the Synod
of the West, in 1839, as follows: "In an instant every soul in the house
was upon the knees, and remained there weeping and praying for mercy."
"The whole congregation became more or less moved. The place became
truly awful and glorious, and it seemed that the time had come when a
decided effort must be made upon the kingdom of darkness, and that under
such circumstances to shrink from the task and, through fear of
producing a little temporary disorder, to refuse to go heartily into the
work, would have been nothing short of down right spiritual murder." "At
one time during the meeting it was found necessary to invite the
mourners to withdraw from the church and remove to the parsonage that
the synod might have an opportunity to proceed with the transaction of
business before it." (Neve, 97.) Dr. Kurtz wrote in the _Observer_ of
November 17, 1843: "The so-called 'anxious bench' is the lever of
Archimedes, which by the blessing of God can raise our German churches
to that degree of respectability in the religious world which they ought
to enjoy." (Neve, 95.) The _Lutheran Observer_ of March 21, 1862, while
defending revivalism and misrepresenting the "symbolism" of the
Missourians as the doctrine according to which one is saved by the
Sacraments _ex opere operato_, without repentance and faith, condemns
the Lutheran system of baptizing, catechizing, confirming, communing at
the Lord's Supper, etc., as Romanism and Sacramentalism, as unbiblical
and not at all the religion of Christ and His apostles, as fundamentally
wrong and utterly ineffective, and disgusting also to Lutherans, as
soon as they were enlightened by the Spirit of God. The _Observer_
continues: The success of Methodists, Baptists, Presbyterians, and even
of the Congregationalists among the Germans is due to revivals. "The
Lutheran Church in Germany and in this country is in need of religious
revivals. Nothing else will save them." (_L. u. W._ 1862, 152.) In 1900,
reporting numerous conversions in consequence of revivals held in
congregations of the General Synod, the _Observer_ remarked: "If half a
dozen of our best preachers would turn evangelists--no greater blessing
could come to our Church." (_L. u. W._ 1900, 179.) The _Lutheran World_,
January 17, 1901: "In our own General Synod any of our churches came to
look upon the Catechism as unfriendly to vital piety, and they cast it
out. Today even there are still those among us who oppose and resist the
use of the Catechism under the false notion that it is the enemy of
practical religion. Their idea of religion is the Methodistic notion.
Fitness for church-membership, according to their view, comes through
the pressure and appointments of the big meeting. Sinners must come to a
bench for mourning, or they must stand up in the congregation, or they
must hold their hands, or they must send in their card asking for the
prayers of the church. Human devices and appointments are fixed on as
requisites for having a genuine conversion and being filled with the
Spirit of God. This is Romanism in disguise." (_L. u. W._ 1901, 54.)
49. Reports on Revivals.--To what an extent over a long period revivals
were indulged in by the congregations of the General Synod appears from
its minutes. The Committee on the State of the Church reported in 1857:
"Revivals have been enjoyed in every quarter, many souls have been added
to the Lord, and whilst the congregations have thus been largely
increased, there is every reason to anticipate that the addition thus
secured for the ranks of the ministry will not be a small one." (30.) In
1859: "The most extensive and powerful revivals of religion ever known
among us have been enjoyed by a very large number of our churches during
the past two years." (59.) In 1864: "Frequent and extensive revivals and
numerous additions to the Church are reported by the brethren." (55.) In
1866: "Many of our churches are rejoicing in special seasons of grace,
refreshings from on high, revivals of religion, in which sinners are
converted, whilst God's people are awakening to new life." (42.) In
1869: "Revivals of religion have been quite general during the year, and
many have been born into the kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ." (59.) In
1875: "In most of the synods there have been seasons of special extended
quickening. Large numbers have professed conversion. In some instances
hundreds have been added to a single church in a twelvemonth." (23.) In
1848 the Synod of Western Virginia reported: "Almost all our churches
have been blessed with revivals of religion. In some upwards of one
hundred persons have professed to have passed from death unto life; in
others seventy-five, in others fifty, and in some not so many." (45.) In
1859: "The two institutions, Roanoke College and Wytheville Female
College, have also been blessed with gracious visitations from on high,
which resulted in the conversion of a number of students in both
institutions." (53.) The Virginia Synod, in 1859: "We have shared to
some extent the great revival blessings which God has poured out upon
the land." (51.) The New York Ministerium, in 1850: "The churches
generally are in a state of prosperity, and many of them have been
favored with special visitations of the Holy Spirit." (31.) In 1859:
"The great revival has had its influence upon our churches; many have
been added to our number, and the vital piety has increased." (61.) The
Synod of West Pennsylvania, in 1850: "Interesting revivals of religion
have occurred since the last General Synod in different places." (29.)
In 1853: "The influences of the Holy Spirit have descended as the dew
upon the labors of most of them, whilst there have been refreshing
showers in the case of many. Revivals are known to have been enjoyed by
eight of the pastoral districts within the last two years. This number
embraces nearly half of the charges of the Synod. Some of these gracious
seasons were of great power, resulting in the hopeful conversion of many
souls, and furnishing a number of students having the ministry in view."
(28.) In 1859: "Nearly all the churches have enjoyed revivals of
religion more or less extensive; conversions have been numerous." (49.)
In 1864: "In some pastorates there have been special awakenings, and
many have been added to the Church of Christ." (55.) In 1871: "Many of
the churches have been blessed with precious seasons of refreshing
grace." (44.) East Pennsylvania Synod, in 1850: "Many sections of the
Church have been blessed with special visitations of the Spirit of God."
(32.) In 1862 the Synod of Central Pennsylvania reported: "In mercy God
poured out His Spirit upon a number of the charges and congregations,
and many souls professed conversion; and although the sad effects of the
war are, in this Synod, clearly seen in her churches, still we are happy
to state that much good has been accomplished." (45.) In 1871: "There
have been extensive awakenings in several of our pastorates, and there
is a steady and commendable progress in spiritual attainments
generally." (47.) The Hartwick Synod, in 1853: "Precious seasons of
refreshing have been vouchsafed to its churches. The Lord is in the
midst of His people, making glad their hearts with the tokens of His
presence and His love." (30.) In 1862: "Although there have not been,
within the past three years, revivals so numerous and so extensive as in
the two years previous, yet seasons of refreshing have been enjoyed on
the part of many of the churches, and such progress made as to evince
the Lord's presence and blessing." (41.) In 1804: "In several of our
churches the Lord has graciously revived His work, believers have been
quickened into higher life, and sinners have been converted." (57.) In
1871: "Many of our congregations have enjoyed special seasons of grace,
and large accessions to the Church have been the result." (44.) In 1859
the Alleghany Synod reported: "Extensive revivals have been enjoyed and
a large number of members added." (52.) In 1862: "The Synod has had some
precious revivals of religion in many of its congregations. In many
respects the Synod has prospered in vital piety." (42.) In 1869: "Some
of the charges have made large additions, as results of religious
awakenings, during the past winter." (58.) The Melanchthon Synod, in
1859
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