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,