107. Confession No Mere Dead Letter.--That Tennessee did not regard
the Lutheran Confession a mere dead document appears from her attitude
toward the Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and other unfaithful Lutheran
synods, as delineated above. The treatise appended to the Report of 1827
declared: It is necessary to correct the wrong opinion that Lutheran
ministers are at liberty to deviate from the Augustan Confession
whereinsoever they conceive it as erroneous. As long as a minister
pretends to be a Lutheran minister, he has no right to deviate from any
article of this Confession. Let him remember his vows! If any one should
discover that the Augsburg Confession is unscriptural, he is justified
and bound to renounce it. But if he continues to preach under its cover,
he is guilty of a twofold fraud. He deceives the Church by causing
Lutherans to believe that he agrees with them. And he deceives the
Christians by failing to warn them against what he regards erroneous
teaching. If Luther and the Lutheran Confessions erred, "why do such as
believe this call themselves Lutherans? Such practise a fraud by being
called Lutherans, when they affirm that Luther taught erroneous
doctrines; or else must own that, by being called after him, they
sanction such errors." (38.) Tennessee was not satisfied with being
_called_ Lutheran. They were seriously determined to _be_ Lutherans.
The Lutheran Confessions were the living norm of both their preaching
and their practise. In publishing books, receiving pastors and teachers,
examining candidates, in negotiating with other synods, Tennessee was
scrupulously guided and governed by the Lutheran Symbols. In 1821 they
resolved on a Liturgy to be prepared by Paul Henkel "according to the
Augsburg Confession of Faith and the Bible." (7.) In 1826 it was
resolved that Luther's Smaller Catechism should be translated into the
English language, and that Ambrose Henkel was to provide both for an
_accurate translation_ and for the publication of the Catechism. (7.)
Numerous instances where pastors were carefully examined with respect to
doctrine before they were admitted to membership are recorded in the
synodical minutes. In the Report of 1831, _e.g._, we read: "Mr. Rankin
[who previously had been a member of the Presbyterian Church] presented
himself to the committee. He was first made a full member of the
Lutheran Church by confirmation. Then, having taken the most solemn
pledge, he was ordained a pastor of the same Church with prayer and
laying on of hands." (8.) The Report of 1832 records: "Whereas Mr.
Rankin, as appears from a letter of Mr. Bonham, addressed to Synod, and
from other trustworthy sources from Green County, Tenn., _has departed
from the Augsburg Confession_, both as to doctrine and discipline, it
was resolved that Mr. Rankin be requested to attend the next session of
our Synod, and there defend himself against the above-mentioned charges,
otherwise we can regard him as member of this Synod no longer." (9. 16.)
In the Report of 1827 we find the following entry: "It was considered
necessary that one of the pastors should visit all the other pastors,
and their congregations, and examine whether there be any who deviate
from the doctrines and rules of our Church. But as none of the pastors
who were present could undertake this visit, it was resolved that any of
the absent ministers who may volunteer his services shall hereby be
authorized to make this visit, and to reprove all errors that may come
within his knowledge. Whatever pastor may undertake this visit is
requested to inform the secretary of his intention, and to hand in a
report of his journey at the next session." (12.)
108. Symbols Regarded as Necessary.--In the "Remarks," appended to the
Second Article of the constitution, adopted 1828, the necessity of
symbols in explained as follows: "Now the question may be put, Is not
the Augustan Confession a human composition? Why is it adopted by this
body? Answer: The Apostle Peter exhorts Christians to 'be ready always
to give an answer to every man that asketh them a reason of the hope
that is in them,' etc. 1 Pet. 3, 15. 16. From the history of the
Reformation it is evident that the Protestants were called upon to
deliver their confession of faith before the diet assembled at Augsburg.
Every Christian is not only privileged, but also commanded to confess
what he believes. Although the Scriptures be a sufficient guide without
any other, and though there be but one explanation of them which can be
correct, yet not all who profess Christianity explain them alike, for
their views are widely different. Hence, as all do not explain the
Scriptures alike, it could but be known what each body of Christians
believed; consequently others could not know whether they should
fellowship them, provided they had not a formal declaration of their
views on the points of doctrine contained in the Scriptures. But when a
body of Christians make a formal declaration of their views on the Holy
Scriptures, others are enabled to judge whether they be correct, and
thus may know with whom to hold Christian fellowship. . . . Lutherans
acknowledge the Holy Scriptures as the only rule of doctrine and
discipline; nevertheless they receive the Augustan Confession because it
exhibits the same views they have on the Scriptures, and is a formal
declaration of what they believe." (22.) According to his own report of
a conversation with a pastor of the General Synod, dated December 2,
1824, Andrew Henkel answered as follows the objection that the
Scriptures are sufficient, and that for that reason symbols are
superfluous: "I told him then that he had departed from the Augsburg
Confession, and, of course, from the Lutheran Church. He then told me
that the Bible was his creed, and not the Augsburg Confession, and that
the said Confession contained things which were not in the Scriptures.
I then replied and said that every fanatic and sectarian said so, and
that Lutherans as much considered the Scriptures to be the only guide in
doctrines as he or any other person did, but that it was necessary to
have some standard by which men could know how the Scriptures were
understood by this or the other denominations, as men varied materially
in their explanations of the Scriptures. I then demanded of him to show
wherein the Confession did not correspond with the Scriptures. He
referred me to the word 'real' in the article of the Lord's Supper, and
added that that word was inserted by the hotheaded Luther."