Volume II Part 1 (1/2)
American Lutheranism.
by Friedrich Bente.
Volume 2: The United Lutheran Church (General Synod, General Council, United Synod in the South).
PREFACE.
American Lutheranism will appear in four volumes, this present second volume to be followed by the first, dealing with the early history of Lutheranism in America.
The third volume will present the history of the Ohio, Iowa, Buffalo, and the Scandinavian synods.
The fourth volume will contain the history and doctrinal position of the Missouri, Wisconsin, and other synods connected with the Synodical Conference.
As appears from this second volume, our chief object is to record the facts as to the theological att.i.tude of the various Lutheran bodies in America, with such comment only as we deemed necessary.
As to the quotations from the _Lutheran Observer_ and other English periodicals, we frequently had to content ourselves with retranslations from the German in _Lehre und Wehre_, _Lutheraner_, etc.
Brackets found in pa.s.sages cited contain additions, comments, corrections, etc., of our own, not of the respective periodicals quoted.
If errors, no matter of whatever nature they may be, should have crept in anywhere, we here express our grat.i.tude for corrections made.
Further prefatory and introductory remarks will accompany Vol. I, which, _ Deo volente_, will go to the printers forthwith.
F. Bente, Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, Mo.
May 28, 1919.
The United Lutheran Church.
MERGER.
1. Origin of the New Body.--On April 18, 1917, at Philadelphia, the Joint Quadricentennial Committee, appointed by the General Synod, the General Council, and the United Synod in the South to arrange for a union celebration of the Reformation, decided that the merging of the three affiliated general bodies would be ”the fittest commemoration and n.o.blest memorial of the four-hundredth Reformation Jubilee.” Accordingly, the presidents of these bodies, being present, were requested to form a joint committee, which should prepare a const.i.tution for a united Church and present the same to the three general bodies for their consideration, and, if approved, for submission to the District Synods. The const.i.tution, framed by the committee, was in the same year adopted by all of the three general bodies, the General Synod, which, in 1820, had been founded for the express purpose of uniting all Lutheran synods in America, being the first to a.s.sent to the Merger during its session at Chicago, June 20 to 27, 1917. The various District Synods also having approved of the union and having ratified the const.i.tution, the Merger was consummated at New York City, November 15, 1918. Dr. F. H. Knubel, a member of the General Synod, was elected President of the new body-- ”The United Lutheran Church in America.” Of the total number of Lutherans in America (63 synods, 15,243 congregations, 9,790 pastors, 2,450,000 confirmed and 3,780,000 baptized members) the United Church embraces 45 synods, 10 theological seminaries with 46 professors and 267 students, 17 colleges, 6 academies, 3,747 congregations and mission-posts, 2,754 pastors, almost 1,000,000 baptized members, and 758,000 confirmed members, the General Synod contributing 364,000, the General Council 340,000, and the United Synod in the South 53,000. The United Church is the second largest Lutheran body in America, the Synodical Conference outnumbering it by only about 50,000 confirmed members. The merged bodies will continue to exist legally until no property rights are imperiled. In 1919 it was decided to consolidate the _ Lutheran_, the _Lutheran Church Work and Observer_, and the _Lutheran Church Visitor_. The new church-paper will be _The Lutheran_, with Dr.
G. W. Sandt as editor-in-chief.
2. Refusing to Enter the Merger.--The United Lutheran Church, according to the _ Lutheran_, ”has inaugurated a new era of progress for our beloved Lutheran Church. . . . Three names have gone down, but a new and greater name has arisen from their ashes.” This, however, was not the view of the Iowa and Augustana synods, though both indirectly, through their connection with the General Council, had for years been in church-fellows.h.i.+p also with the General Synod, hence, consistently might have entertained scruples to join the Merger no more than the Council.
When, at Philadelphia, October 25, 1917, the General Council pa.s.sed on the Merger, Dr. M. Reu, the representative of the Iowa Synod, was the only delegate (advisory) who voted against it. Pointing especially to the fact that the General Synod, at its last convention in Chicago, had elected as president a man [Dr. Geo. Tressler] who was publicly known to be a Mason of a high degree, Dr. Reu warned against the union, as it would practically mean the abandonment of the Council's position on pulpit- and altar-fellows.h.i.+p, as well as on the lodge-question. The _Kirchenblatt_ of the Iowa Synod: ”It is apparent that the influence of the General Synod on the General Council has paralyzed the practical principles of the fathers, and that the contemplated Merger is tantamount to an anulment of these principles, as far as the official practise of this new church-body will come into question. And yet, just this life, the ecclesiastical life and practise of the ministers and congregations, is the mirror in which the real confessional att.i.tude may be seen. We [Iowa] owe much to the General Council, and will always remember this gratefully, but now our roads separate and we must part.
American [?] Lutheranism [?], [tr. note: sic] which the General Synod has always stood for, and which has had its adherents also in the General Council, especially among its nativistic representatives, will control also the new church-body. This, according to our understanding, means that a far-reaching influence of a Reformed nature will manifest itself, especially with respect to church-practise and the att.i.tude toward all manner of societies and antichristian lodges.” (_Lehre und Wehre_, 1917, 521. 572.)
3. Withdrawal of the Augustana Synod.--For more than a decade prior to the Merger the current within the Swedish Augustana Synod had been running against the General Council. Accordingly, to the Augustana Synod the contemplated union was an occasion rather than a cause for refusing to join the movement and for severing her connection also with the Council. Indeed, at the convention of the General Council at Philadelphia, October 25, 1917, all of the Augustana representatives had cast their votes for the new organization. At her last convention, June 8, 1918, however, the Synod, in spite of the most strenuous efforts on the part of the delegates of the General Council to draw her into the union, pa.s.sed the resolution: ”_Resolved_, That the Augustana Synod does not at this time see its way clear to enter the proposed merger of the United Lutheran Church in America, but declares itself in favor of a federation of Lutheran church-bodies in North America.” A subsequent resolution severed her connection with the Council. The reasons advanced by the Augustana Synod for her action were not of a doctrinal or confessional nature, but rather pertained to the interest of her peculiar work among the Swedish population of our country. Yet the course chosen by the Augustana Synod was, at least part, the result also of the secret fear that the new body would rapidly sink to the level of the doctrinal and practical laxism of the General Synod. Warning against the Merger, the _Lutheran Companion_, of the Augustana Synod, wrote: ”We must hold ourselves aloof from spiritual fellows.h.i.+p with such churches or denominations, some of whose factors advocate and defend lodgism, dancing as a pastime for the young people under the auspices and sanction of the church, etc.” (_L. u. W._, 1917, 522.) Disappointed on account of the withdrawal of the Augustana Synod, the _Lutheran_, of the General Council, commented: ”The Augustana Synod has subordinated unity of faith to unity of race. This is as un-American as it is un-Lutheran, and the day of its real Lutheran union is thereby indefinitely postponed.
. . . We are persuaded that this separation was willed by man and not by G.o.d, though we also believe that He will, in the end, overrule it for good. . . . The Augustana Synod has missed its opportunity; it has limited the sphere of its influence; it has placed synodical and social interests as a clog in the wheel of the Lutheran Church's progress as a whole, and set the Church back a generation or more to start afresh on the pathway to its ultimate goal. . . . Lutherans are now to be fenced off into social groups to be known as the Swedish, the Norwegian, the German, and the English divisions of the Lutheran forces in this country.” (_L. u. W._, 1917, 522; 1918, 329 ff.)
4. Att.i.tude of the Ohio Synod.--Though representatives also of the Ohio Synod served on the Joint Quadricentennial Committee in order to arrange for a union celebration of the Reformation together with the representatives of the General Synod, the Council and the United Synod South, the official organs of the Ohio Synod were severe in condemning the Merger. The _Lutheran Standard_, August 4, 1917: ”There are chiefly two practical differences that keep us apart, namely, that concerning altar- and pulpit-fellows.h.i.+p and that concerning the lodge. Concerning the first point the const.i.tution [of the Merger] has nothing to say whatever. Relative to lodge-members.h.i.+p, the general body will have only advisory power.” The _Kirchenzeitung_, of the Ohio Synod, May 12, 1917: ”The great and glorious work of Dr. Krauth in the Council has been nullified. The General Synod's practise of fraternizing with the sects will prevail. What is sound and good in the Council will crumble; the proposed union is a great victory for the lax portion of the General Synod and a pitiable defeat for the Council. Indeed, we shall be told about the 'salt' that the Council may be in the new body, but that is an old, old game, which cannot fool people any more. And this to celebrate the Reformation Jubilee! Would that Luther could return and with the thunder of his scorn shatter this celebration of his work! Where unionism has its jubilee, all true Lutherans turn away in sorrow and anger.” (_Luth. Witness_, 1918, 406.) However, considering that pulpit- and altar-fellows.h.i.+p, where-ever justified, clears the way for all other external unions, and that Ohio representatives served on the Quadricentennial Committee for a union celebration of the Reformation, the above criticism, warranted though it be, will hardly be viewed as consistent.
CONSt.i.tUTION.
5. Doctrinal Basis.--The Const.i.tution of the United Lutheran Church provides: ”Article II: Doctrinal Basis. Section 1. The United Lutheran Church in America receives and holds the canonical Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments as the inspired Word of G.o.d and as the only infallible rule and standard of faith and practise, according to which all doctrines and teachers are to be judged.--Section 2. The United Lutheran Church in America accepts the three ec.u.menical creeds; namely, the Apostles', the Nicene, and the Athanasian, as important testimonies drawn from the Holy Scriptures, and rejects all errors which they condemn.--Section 3. The United Lutheran Church in America receives and holds the Unaltered Augsburg Confession as a correct exhibition of the faith and doctrine of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, founded upon the Word of G.o.d; and acknowledges all churches that sincerely hold and faithfully confess the doctrines of the Unaltered Augsburg Confession to be ent.i.tled to the name of Evangelical Lutheran.--Section 4. The United Lutheran Church in America recognizes the Apology of the Augsburg Confession, the Smalcald Articles, the Large and Small Catechisms of Luther, and the Formula of Concord as in the harmony of one and the same pure Scriptural faith.”--”Article IV. Section 2. Any Evangelical Lutheran synod applying for admission which has accepted the Const.i.tution with its Doctrinal Basis, as set forth in Article II, and whose const.i.tution has been approved by the Executive Board, may be received into members.h.i.+p by a majority vote at any regular convention.”
6. Further Confessional Statements.--Among the other sections of the Const.i.tution expressing directly or indirectly the confessional and doctrinal att.i.tude of the new body are the following: ”Article VI: Objects. The objects of the United Lutheran Church in America are: . . .
Section 1. To preserve and extend the pure teaching of the Gospel and the right administration of the Sacraments. (Eph. 4, 5, 6; the Augsburg Confession, Art. VII.) Section 2. To conserve the unity of the true faith (Eph.4, 3-16; 1 Cor. 1, 10), to guard against any departure therefrom (Rom. 16, 17), and to strengthen the Church in faith and confession. Section 3. To express outwardly the spiritual unity of the Lutheran congregations and synods, 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, and thus to develop and unfold the specific Lutheran principle and practise, and make their strength effective.”--”Article VIII: Powers. . . . Section 6: As to the Maintenance of Principle and Practise. The United Lutheran Church in America shall protect and enforce its Doctrinal Basis, secure pure preaching of the Word of G.o.d and the right administration of the Sacraments in all its synods and congregations. It shall also have the right, where it deems that loyalty to the Word of G.o.d requires it, to advise and admonish concerning a.s.sociation and affiliation with non-ecclesiastical and other organizations whose principles or practises appear to be inconsistent with full loyalty to the Christian Church”
[weak and misleading, if Freemasons and similar lodges are meant; the more so, as quite a number of the clergymen in the Merger are lodgemen]; ”but the synods alone shall have the power of discipline” [conflicts with principle of unity in doctrine and practise].--”Article III.
Section 7. In the formation and administration of a general body the synods may know and deal with each other only as synods. In all such cases the official record is to be accepted as evidence of the doctrinal position of each synod, and of the principles for which alone the other synods are responsible by connection with it.” This section, according to which the new body a.s.sumes responsibility only for the official doctrine and practise of the District Synods as such, but declines to answer for what the congregations, pastors, and laymen may teach and practise, unduly limits the responsibility for false doctrine and practise, conflicts with the Scriptural rule of Christian fellows.h.i.+p, and stamps the United Church as unionistic.--”Article VIII: Powers.