Chapter 7

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."