Muehlenberg, and made memorable the loyalty of American Lutherans.
Steuben, the drillmaster of the Revolution, transformed the untrained
and helpless troops of Washington into an effective force capable of
meeting the seasoned soldiers of Cornwallis and Burgoyne.
Our German ancestors were peasants, unable to write history, but they
helped to make history. Without their timely aid there would not have
been a United States of America. Their children do not need to be
"Americanized." Nor have later immigrants from Germany and Scandinavia,
at any period of our history, shown less loyalty to American ideals.
We may concede the hegemony of English in the political and intellectual
life of America, but in a great country like America there is room for
others also. It is a narrow view of our civilization to make "American"
synonymous with English. America is not the dumping ground of the
nations. It is a land where the best ideals of all nations may be
reproduced and find room for expansion and growth.
The German and Scandinavian churches of New York are not ignorant of the
importance of the English language in the maintenance of their church
work. (See table of Churches in the Appendix.) With scarcely an
exception they make all possible use of English in their services. This
they are compelled to do in order to reach their children. In this way,
and by making generous contributions of their members to the English
churches, they are doing their full share in the general work of church
extension in the English language.
They send their sons into the ministry to an extent that has not been
approached by our English churches. (See Appendix under Sons of the
Church.) Nearly all of these are bi-lingual in their ministerial work
and many of them serve exclusively English churches. There is a proverb
about killing the goose that lays the golden egg, which we would do well
to bear in mind.
Concordia Seminary in St. Louis, founded by Dr. Walther and the Germans
of Missouri, numbers 344 students. Candidates for graduation must be
able to minister in at least two languages. In a polyglot church such as
ours this would seem to be a policy worthy of imitation.
The fifteen languages in which we minister to our people confer upon us
an honorable distinction. Each one represents an individuality which
cannot be ignored, some spiritual gift which is worth exercising and
preserving. By keeping in touch with this many-sided life we enrich our
own lives, obtain broader conceptions of the church's mission, and fit
ourselves for more effective service in this most cosmopolitan city of
the world. Instead of trying to exterminate these languages, let us
cultivate a closer acquaintance with them and let us pray for that
pentecostal spirit which will enable us to say "we do hear them speak in
our tongues the wonderful works of God."
The Problem of Membership
Three classes of members are recognized in our churches: 1, Those who
have been baptized. 2, Those who have been confirmed-that is, those who
after the prescribed course of instruction and examination have been
admitted to the communion. 3, Communicants-that is, those who are in
active fellowship with the church in the use of the word and the
sacrament.*
*The temporal affairs of the congregation as a civic corporation
are regulated by the State and the qualifications of a voting member are
defined in the laws of the State. This chapter deals only with the
question of membership in the church as a spiritual body. In general
the State readily acquiesces in the polity of the various churches so
long as it does not interfere with the civic rights of the individual.
There is a fourth class of which no note is taken in our church records.
It is the class of lapsed Lutherans-that is, of those who have been
admitted to full communion but who have slipped away and are no longer
in active connection with the church.
Of these we shall speak in a separate chapter.
It is sometimes charged that the Lutheran communion does not hold clear
views of the church. On the one hand her confessions abound in
definitions of the church as a spiritual kingdom, as a fellowship of
believers. On the other hand her practice frequently reminds our brother
Protestants of the Catholics, and they are disposed to look upon us as
Romanists, _minorum gentium_. "Like a will-of-the-wisp," says Delitzsch,
"the idea of the church eludes us. It seems impossible to find the safe
middle ground between a false externalism on the one hand and a false
internalism on the other hand."
The Lutheran position can only be understood when we recall the
situation that confronted the Reformers in the sixteenth century. They
had first of all to interpret the teachings of Scripture over against
Rome, and hence in their earlier confessions they emphasized the points
on which they differed from the Pope.
According to Romish doctrine a man became a member of the church, not
by an _interna virtus,_ but solely through an external profession of
faith and an external use of the sacraments. The church is as visible
and perceptible an organization as is "the kingdom of France or the
republic of Venice." The church is an institution rather than a
communion.
For thirteen centuries, from Cyprian to Bellarmin, this doctrine held
almost undisputed sway.
The Reformers demonstrated the significance of faith, and showed the
untenableness of Rome's conception of the church as a mere institution.
Thomasius calls this a central epoch in the history of the world. But at
the same time the Reformers had to take a stand against the
hyperspiritual positions of the fanatics, as well as the teachings of
the Zwinglians who denied the efficacy of the means of grace. The
confessions, therefore, as well as the subsequent writings of
Melanchthon and the dogmaticians, and the entire history and development
of the Lutheran churches must be read in the light of this two-fold
antagonism.
The system which the Reformers controverted must have had features
acceptable to the natural man or it would not have prevailed for so
many centuries. Hence it is not surprising when Romanism creeps back
into nominally Protestant churches. It behooves us, therefore, to be on
our guard and to purge out the old leaven. And the opposite tendency
which undervalues the visible church, must also be corrected by a
Scriptural doctrine of the ordinances.
The practice of our churches is a resultant mainly of three forces:
1. Doctrine, defined in the Confessions, modified by Melanchthon's
later writings and by the dogmaticians of the 17th century, considerably
influenced also by Spener and the Pietists, while not a little has come
to us from the Rationalistic period.
2. Tradition, from the civil and social arrangements of the national
churches from which we are descended, inherited through generations of
our predecessors in this country. We follow in the old ruts, and "the
way we have always been doing" puts an end to controversy.
3. Environment. Consciously or unconsciously we are influenced by the
practice of neighboring denominations.
The object of this chapter is to ascertain the historic principles of
the Lutheran Church in regard to church membership, to test their
validity by Scriptures and to apply them to present conditions.
The Church is primarily the communion of saints. Thus in the Small
Catechism: "even as He (the Holy Ghost) ... sanctifies the whole
Christian Church on earth." In the Large Catechism the same thought,
that the Church is the product of the Holy Ghost, is expressed in ample
terms. Rome's doctrine of the Church, as essentially an external
organism, was answered in the 7th Article of the Augustana with the
statement that the Church is the "congregation of saints," and this
Article was the object of special attack in the Confutation. In the
Apologia the Church is the congregation of those who confess one Gospel,
have a knowledge of Christ and a Holy Spirit who renews, sanctifies and
governs their hearts (Mueller 153, 8). In the Smalcald Articles: "Thank
God, a child of seven years knows what the Church is, namely the holy
believers and the lambs who hear their Shepherd's voice." The Formula of
Concord has no special article on the Church, but touches the question
incidentally and confirms the statements of the other symbols. (See
Rohnert, Dogmatik, p. 505.)
These teachings are in harmony with New Testament doctrine. Jesus said:
"Upon this rock will I build my church," the congregation of God's
children, the spiritual house which in the years to come "I will build."
This Church was founded through the outpouring of the Holy Ghost on
Pentecost. When the Epistles were written Ecclesia had become the
established term. In Acts 2, 42, we find that Koinonia was one of the
essential characteristics of the Church. John uses the same term in his
first letter. This is the very truth repeated in the 7th Article of the
Augustana. Paul, in his letter to Titus, refers to Christians as those
who have believed in God; Romans 8, "God's elect;" also in Colossians 3,
1, "elect of God;" I. Peter 2, "holy nation, peculiar people;" I. Cor.
1, "Sanctified in Christ Jesus," etc., etc. They form a "spiritual
house," I. Peter, 2; "God's building," I. Cor, 3; "body of Christ" in
process of edification, Eph. 4. This body of Christ is an organic unity
in which the Holy Ghost dwells as in a temple, I. Cor., 3 ; and of which
Christ is the head, Eph. 1, 22. The Church is the "bride of Christ," II.
Cor, 11, 2; destined to be "holy and without blemish," Eph., 5, 27.
The Romish doctrine of the Church began with Cyprian in the third
century. When the Puritans of that day, the Montanists, Novatians and
Donatists unduly emphasized the ideal character of the Church, there was
justification for the answer of Cyprian, emphasizing its empiric
character, its actual condition. When after thirteen centuries of abuse
of this position a Reformation occurred, it was to be expected that the
Reformers would first of all emphasize the ideal, the inner character of
the Church.
But while this movement, which Julius Stahl felicitously termed the
Conservative Reformation, was going on, there was also a radical
Reformation which repudiated the idea of a visible church. The
Romanists, in their confutation of the Augustana, called attention to
this view, and wrongfully charged the Lutherans with holding it. In
controverting this position, the Romanists very properly quoted the
parable of the tares and the parable of the net with all kinds of
fishes. The Apologia replied by showing that the 8th Article of the
Augustana had repudiated this position, and that bad men and hypocrites
were not excluded _ab externa societate_.
Thus the Romanists regard the Church as essentially visible, the
Reformed, as essentially invisible, while Lutherans hold that she is
both. The invisible Church is contained within the visible just as the
soul is contained within the body. The Church is not merely a
congregation of believers, but also an institution for the promotion of
the Kingdom of God.
In their controversy with Rome Lutherans held that the Church did not
exist merely in participation of external rites, but chiefly in the
possession of the inward life, the heavenly gifts. As yet the kingdom of
Christ is not revealed, and the visible Church is a _corpus mixtum_.
Thus the Apologia distinguishes clearly between the _ecclesia proprie et
large dicta_ (church in the proper and church in the wider sense of the
term).
Nevertheless this Kingdom of Christ has a visible existence. "We are not
dreaming of a Platonic commonwealth," says the Apologia, "for it has
external marks, the preaching of the pure Gospel and the administration
of the sacraments." And this Church is the "pillar and ground of the
truth," for she is built upon the true foundation, Christ, and upon this
foundation Christians are built up.
Subsequently, in his Loci, Melanchthon developed still further the idea
of the Church as an _institutum_. This may have been because of the
fanatics, or it may have been because of his entire disposition as a
teacher and pedagogue. Followed as he was in support of his views by the
dogmaticians, the Lutheran Church acquired that distinctive character
which has marked her history as an educating and training force. This
position is still further explained from the fact that the Lutherans,
unlike the Reformed, were placed in charge of nations and peoples, and
had to be responsible for their Christian guidance and training. As a
national church, her relations to the people were different from those
of the Reformed, who, on the continent, existed mainly in smaller
communities and congregations where it was comparatively easy to enforce
church discipline.
In this relation the Church is not only the product, but also the organ
of the Holy Ghost. It is her duty to nourish the life of its members
(_parturit et alit_), and to spread the blessings of the Church to
others. According to the Large Catechism, she is the spiritual mother
of the faithful. Her pedagogic duty is pointed out. (See Rohnert,
Dogmatik, pp. 508 and 487.)
This visible character of the Church is recognized in the New Testament
in the various commands and promises given to her: the power of the
keys, the duty to confess before men, to serve one another in love, of
united intercession, of contending against the kingdom of darkness. In
the Epistles the presence of sinful men is everywhere recognized,
nevertheless the members of the Church are termed "the called" of Jesus
Christ.
Lutheranism of the 16th century stood between two opposite errors, Rome
on the one hand with its exaggerated ideas of the Church as an
institution, and Reform on the other hand with its one-sided notions of
the invisible church. The Lutheran Church took the _via media_,
declaring that the Church, _proprie_, was spiritual, but that it was
also an institution. The question for us is whether we Lutherans of the
twentieth century have remained on the _via media_ or whether we have
not slipped too far to the right or to the left.
To find the answer one would naturally consult our church formulas and
constitutions. According to Dr. Walther's "Pastorale," the candidate for
admission to a "Missouri" church must be a truly converted and
regenerated Christian. The General Council requires that the candidate
shall have been admitted to the Lord's Supper and shall accept the
constitution. The Synod of New York requires that candidates be
confirmed, accept the Augsburg Confession, lead a Christian life, obey
the constitution and any other regulations that may hereafter be
adopted.
From this it seems that "Missouri" is the only body that emphasizes the
_interna virtus_. The others place the emphasis upon conformity with
certain outward forms and requirements.
But we cannot always judge from the printed constitution. To bring the
information up to date, and to ascertain the actual usage of the
churches, the author obtained from forty pastors of this city an account
of their practice. Some of their replies will be embodied in this
chapter.
Theoretically we enter the church through baptism. Practically, for most
Lutherans, confirmation is the door of admission.
This rite is a comparatively new measure among us. Prior to the
eighteenth century it had only a limited use in the Lutheran Church, and
it has attained an inordinately prominent place. Spener was among the
first to recognize its practical value, and its beautiful ritual made a
strong appeal to the popular imagination. It is one of the ancient
ceremonies to which we do not object if it is properly used.
Now tell us, you who make so much of confirmation and so little of
catechization, seeing that you are content with six months of the
latter, in adopting a rite which Spener and the Pietists introduced into
the church, have you also adopted the principles which governed Spener
and the Pietists in the practice of confirmation? Their object in
catechization and confirmation was conversion. "A stranger visited my
class one day," says Spener. "The next day he called to see me and
expressed his great pleasure with my instruction. 'But,' said he, 'this
instruction is for the head. The question is how to bring the head to
the heart.' And these words he repeated three times. I will not deny
that they made such an impression upon me that for the rest of my days
I shall not forget them."
We are not advocating extravagant ideas of conversion, or requiring a
religious experience from children of fourteen years which in the nature
of the case they cannot have. But have we a right in this crisis in the
history of the child to overlook that infinitely important experience
which our dogmaticians termed _regressus ad baptismum?_ Said Professor
Kaftan, in an address to a Ministers' Conference: "The word conversion
is the appropriate term for expressing the way in which a man becomes a
Christian and a believer. Most Christians can tell you something about
how it happened that they sought a new aim and chose another path in
life. Even among those who have had a peaceful and gradual development,
there came a time when they reached a conscious and decisive resolution
to belong no more to the world but to God. _"Man wird nicht von selbst
ein Christ, man muss sich bekehren um ein Christ zu werden."_ We do not
repudiate the doctrine of baptismal regeneration as it is held in the
Lutheran Church. On this point we are in accord with our Confessions.
But before we adopt without reservation the idea that baptized children
are regenerate, we must revise our practice in the matter of baptizing
infants. So long as we practice the _Winkeltaufe_ and baptize
indiscriminately the children of people who give us no guarantee that
the children will be brought up in the Christian faith, so long as the
Church fails to recognize her obligation to these baptized children and
does not take them under her nourishing care from the time when they
emerge from the family and enter into the larger life of the street and
the school, we have no right to place such an emphasis upon baptismal
regeneration. It is to be feared that the Lutheran doctrine of baptismal
grace has in many minds been supplanted by a mechanical, thaumaturgiel
conception which differs from the Roman doctrine only in being far more
dangerous. Rome at least enforces the claims of tthe [sic] Church
recognized in baptism. We baptize them and let them run. We corral a few
of them for a few months just before confirmation and then let them run
again. So does not Rome." [tr. note: original has no close quotation mark
for Kaftan quotation]
Dr. Cremer, of Greifswald, an able defender of the Lutheran faith, in
his reply to Dr. Lepsius on the subject of Baptismal Regeneration, says:
"It is sad indeed that in the use of the sacraments there is generally
more of superstition than of faith. This must be openly confessed, for
only then can conditions be improved when faults are recognized and made
known. . . . We may continue to baptize chiildren [sic] of
_Gewohnheitschristen_ (formal Christians), but it is a question whether
we ought to continue to baptize the children of those who have given up
the faith and among whom there is no guarantee of a Christian training.
This means also a reformation in our confirmation practice. Does
confirmation mean a family party, or mark the time to leave school, or
has it something to do with baptism? These are rocks of offense which
must be cleared out of the way if the Church is to be restored to
health."
Among the questions proposed to the pastors were the following:
1. Do you have a personal interview with each candidate prior to
confirmation with the view of ascertaining his fitness for the act?
2. Do you at that interview inquire as to the candidate's repentance,
faith, conversion, new life?
3. Is the confirmation of the candidate dependent upon the satisfactory
result of this examination?
Among the answers were the following: "Not, individually." "No, except
before the congregation." "Not formally so." "For at least six months."
"Only with certain ones," etc., etc.
A goodly number of pastors speak to the candidates _"unter vier Augen,"_
but they are the exceptions. The ordinary practice knows nothing of such
a course. The public examination is little more than an exhibition.
In other words, we have strayed over to the Roman side of the road. The
difference between us and the Roman priest being this: he will see them
again at the confessional, but those whom we confirm in this superficial
way, many of them, we shall never see again. Or, if perchance we should
see some of them, it will be at long range, the same as when we first
admitted them to confirmation. Imagine a doctor curing his patients in
this way, getting them together in a room and prescribing for their
diseases from what he sees of them in a crowd. The care of souls cannot
be performed in bulk, it is the care of _a_ soul.
Besides what a privilege the pastor loses, the opportunity of a
lifeline, not only to explain to an inquiring heart the mysteries of our
faith in the light of his personal need, but also to put himself in such
a relation to the individual that he may become a beloved _Beichvater_.
But alas, we have to a great extent lost the confessional. Instead of it
we have a hybrid combination of Lutheran doctrine and Reformed practice,
and we distribute our absolution _ore rotundo_ over mixed congregations
on Sunday mornings and at the Preparatory Service. But the real
confession we seldom hear and a valid absolution therefore we cannot
pronounce. The Keys have indeed been committed to us, but we seem to
have lost them, for the door of the sheepfold hangs very loose in our
churches and the sheep run in and out pretty much as they please.
But while some of our churches are thus leaning toward Rome, there is
need of caution also against the opposite error. A false and exaggerated
spirituality will lead to standards of holiness which are not warranted
by the New Testament. Of these Luther himself somewhere said, "May the
God of mercy preserve me from belonging to a congregation of holy
people. I desire to belong to a church of poor sinners who constantly
need forgiveness and the help of a good physician."*
*Methods of receiving candidates into active membership vary. Some
synods, as we have seen, make no distinction whatever in their
statistical reports between occasional communicants and actual members
of the congregation. Admission to membership should take place by vote
of the congregation or at least of the Church Council. There should
likewise be some rite of initiation. In the case of adults who come from
other congregations it need not and should not be a confirmation
service, but it should at least be a public introduction of the
candidate into the fellowship of the congregation with which he desires
to become identified. (Matthew 10, 32).
Rome's position was a protest against Montanism. Without question there
is a great truth in Cyprian's position as developed by Rome, and the
Reformers, particularly Melanchthon, guarded it. How often do we hear in
our day the declaration: "I do not need to go to church. I can be just
as good a Christian without." This position Lutheranism rebukes by
making preaching and the sacraments the pillars on which the church
rests. Thus is conserved what was best in the institutional theory of
the ancient church, so that in spite of her many defects both as a
national church and in her transplanted condition, the Lutheran church
will remain an important factor in the development of Protestant
Christianity.