64. C. F. L. Endress Denounces Form of Concord.--Among the better
class of Lutherans prominent in the Pennsylvania Synod during the
decades immediately preceding and following the year 1800 were such men
as J. B. Schmucker, H. A. Muhlenberg, Lochman, Probst, and Endress. In
the Proceedings of the General Synod, 1827, Lochman and Endress are
spoken of as belonging to "the Fathers of our General Synod, and able
ministers of the Lord Jesus," as the "oldest and most respected members"
of the Synod of East Pennsylvania, as "men who were among the brightest
ornaments of the Lutheran Church, and whose departure is lamented no
less by the synods in general than by that to which they more
immediately belonged." (12. 21.) Yet they, too, were absolutely
indifferent as to the Lutheran Symbols. Dr. C. F. Endress, a pupil of
Helmuth, a leading spirit in the Pennsylvania Ministerium and most
prominent in the unionistic transactions with the German Reformed
Church, declared his theological position as follows: "We have the
Formula Concordiae, in which expulsion, condemnation, anathema, were,
in the most liberal manner, pronounced and poured forth against all
those who were of a different opinion, which, however, thank God, was
never received universally by the Lutheran Church. I would suffer both
my hands to be burned off before I would subscribe that instrument." "As
we have hitherto received the Augsburg Confession and Luther's Catechism
and Melanchthon's Apology, so I have no objection that they should be
kept in reverence and respect as our peculiar documents, but not to
overrule the Bible. For by this shall the Lutheran Church forever
distinguish itself from all other religious connections, that the Bible,
the Bible alone, shall remain the only sun in Christ Jesus, and that we
rest upon human declarations of faith only in so far as they receive
their light more or less from that great light." "What shall I answer on
the question, What is the confession of faith of the Lutheran Church?
Answer: I will not dictate to you what you should say; but if I should
be asked, I would say, first, and principally, and solely, and alone:
The Holy Word of God contained in the writings of the prophets and
apostles. The confessions of faith by the Church of the first four
centuries we hold in conformity with the Bible, and receive them, as far
as I know, universally in the Lutheran Church. The confession of the
princes of the German Empire presented at the Diet of Augsburg is held
by all in honor and respect, and when we compare it with other human
confessions, we give it a decided preference. Luther's Catechism is used
in all Lutheran churches, and no catechism of other religious
denominations has that honor. The so-called Apology is in possession of
very few Lutheran ministers; but whether they have read it or not, they
consider it a good book. The Smalcald Articles I have often read. In
Germany they are taken up among the Symbols. I know not whether any
other divine in the Lutheran Church in America ever read it except
Muhlenberg and Lochman. In short, we hold firmly and steadfastly to our
beloved Bible, when the one holds to Calvin, the other to Zwingli, a
third to the Heidelberg Catechism, a fourth to the Confession of the
Synod of Dort, a fifth to the Westminster Catechism, a sixth to the
Common-prayer Book, a seventh to the Solemn League and Covenant, and the
eighth to the darkened and depraved reason per se, the ninth to reason
under the name of Holy Spirit, and the tenth to the devil himself in the
form of an angel of light. But I will cleave to my beloved Bible, and
hereby it shall remain. Amen." (_Luth. Observer_, Sept., 1881.)
65. Rev. Probst Defending Union.--The _Lutheran Observer_, September,
1881, from whose columns we quoted the statements above concerning Dr.
Endress, continues: Rev. Probst, who was a member of the Pennsylvania
Synod from 1813 until his death, and well acquainted with the sentiments
of his brethren, in a work published in 1826 for the express purpose of
promoting a formal and complete union of the German Reformed and
Lutheran churches in America, entitled, _Reunion of the Lutherans and
Reformed_, says that there was no material difference of doctrinal views
between them, the Lutherans having relinquished the bodily presence, and
the Reformed unconditional election. Speaking of the supposed obstacles
to such union, he remarks: "The doctrine of unconditional election
cannot be in the way. This doctrine has long since been abandoned; for
there can scarcely be a single German Reformed preacher found who
regards it as his duty to defend this doctrine. Zwingli's more liberal,
rational, and Scriptural view of this doctrine, as well as of the Lord's
Supper, has become the prevailing one among Lutherans and Reformed, and
it has been deemed proper to abandon the view of both Luther and Calvin
on the subject of both these doctrines." (74.) "The whole mass of the
old Confessions, occasioned by the peculiar circumstances of those
troublous times, has become obsolete by the lapse of ages, and is yet
valuable only as matter of history. Those times and circumstances have
passed away, and our situation, both in regard to political and
ecclesiastical relations, is entirely changed. We are therefore not
bound to these books, but only to the Bible. For what do the unlearned
know of the Augsburg Confession, or the Form of Concord, or the Synod of
Dort?" (76.) "Both churches [the Lutheran and the Reformed] advocate the
evangelical liberty of judging for themselves, and have one and the same
ground of their faith--the Bible. Accordingly, both regard the Gospel
as their exclusive rule of faith and practise, and are forever opposed
to all violations of the liberty of conscience." (76.) "All enlightened
and intelligent preachers of both churches agree that there is much in
the former Symbolical Books that must be stricken out as antiquated and
contrary to common sense, and be made conformable with the Bible, and
that we have no right to pledge ourselves to the mere human opinions of
Luther, or Calvin, or Zwingli, and that we have but one Master, Christ.
Nor is any evangelical Christian bound to the interpretations which
Luther, or Calvin, or any other person may place on the words of Christ;
but each one has the right to interpret them according to the dictates
of his own conscience." (80.) "Inasmuch as all educated ministers of the
Lutheran and Reformed churches now entertain more reasonable and more
Scriptural views on those doctrines which were formerly the subjects of
controversy, what necessity is there of a continued separation?" (81.)