CONSERVATIVES.
84. Confessional Tendencies.—Apart from a number of minor causes the conservative movement within the General Synod is chiefly due to the awakening of confessional Lutheranism in Germany, the increase of Lutheran immigrants, and the powerful influence of the Lutherans in the West, especially the Missouri Synod. The rapidly multiplying German elements which entered the Pennsylvania and New York Ministeriums and other Lutheran synods during the second half of the nineteenth century were always farthest advanced in taking a confessional stand with respect to Lutheran doctrine and practise. Down to the present day the attitude of the German Districts of the now defunct General Synod toward lodges, altar- and pulpit-fellowship, and the Lutheran symbols has been much more conservative than that of the English District Synods. However, the early conservatives of the General Synod, besides being in the minority and having no organ in the English language to cope with the Lutheran Observer, lacked the clearness, consistency, boldness, initiative, determination, and aggressiveness of their liberal opponents. And even later, when both their number and courage had increased materially, it was not in every respect the old genuine, but a modified Lutheranism which also their most pronounced representatives advocated—not whole-hearted, undivided loyalty to Lutheran doctrines and practises, but a Lutheranism tainted, more or less, with indifferentism and unionism, nor absolutely free even from elements of Pietism and Reformedism. For the cry of the conservative leaders who later organized the General Council was not, "Back to Luther!" but, "Back to Muhlenberg!" And the prominent conservatives that remained in the General Synod after the Fort Wayne rupture, they all, without exception, were outspoken unionists, ready to tolerate un-Lutheran doctrines in their own midst and pulpit-fellowship with the sects, some of them being disloyal even to doctrines distinctive of Lutheranism. During the Platform controversy some of the most influential conservatives differed from Schmucker not so much in theology as in their policy of mutual toleration and the refusal to mutilate and abandon the venerable Augsburg Confession. The lack of bold aggressiveness on the part of the most Lutheran of these conservatives is illustrated by the letter of H.J. Schmidt, already referred to: "If all open conflict is avoided, our cause, I mean the cause of truth and of the Church, will continue silently and surely to gain ground." (Spaeth, 1, 349; Lutheraner, April 12, 1852.) Their lack of Lutheran seriousness is exemplified by the cordial relation existing at Gettysburg between C.F. Schaeffer, who in his lectures in Catechetics endeavored to create an interest in, and respect for, the Lutheran symbols, and his brother-in-law S.S. Schmucker, who did everything in his power to discredit and misrepresent them. (L. u. W. 1884, 357.)
85. Conservatives Unionistic.—In their reports in the Lutheraner and in Kirchliche Mitteilungen on the confessional awakening within the General Synod, Walther and Sihler joyfully mention Drs. Morris and Reynolds as the promising leaders of the movement. (Lutheraner 6, 37.) "An opposition has arisen against Kurtz and Schmucker such as no one would have dared to hope for ten years ago," Loehe wrote in 1850. "Reynolds," he continued, "placed the Confession into the light again. Ministers ask for the wisdom of old. Students at Gettysburg purchase the Book of Concord." The Evangelical Review would contribute "to deliver the children of the Church and her teachers out of the Kurtz-Schmuckerian captivity." Similar progress was made in other synods. (Kirchl. Mitt. 1850, 57.) In a letter of October, 1847, Philip Schaff refers to Drs. Morris, Reynolds, Demme, and the two Krauths as prominent among the conservatives of the General Synod. (Spaeth, W. J. Mann, 38.) But what these men who at the middle of the nineteenth century thrilled many a Lutheran heart with joy and hope abandoned, was, at best, not unionism, but Reformedism. The most that can he said of Dr. C.R. Demme (1795-1863; studied in Halle and Goettingen; came to America in 1818), who was pastor in Philadelphia and prominent in the Pennsylvania Synod, is that he was a theologian of a mild confessional tendency. As late as 1852 he stood for the union distribution formula in the Lord's Supper. Dr. J.G. Morris (1803-1895; received his theological training at Nazareth, Princeton, and Gettysburg; founded the Lutheran Observer; wrote Life Reminiscences of an Old Lutheran Minister, etc.) signed the notorious letter of 1845, which later he declared to be the greatest blunder of the General Synod. Morris approved of the unionistic practises of the General Synod. As late as 1885 he declared his position as follows: "I preach the Lutheran doctrine of the real presence of our glorified Lord in the blessed elements; but when a poor, penitent, praying, confessing, believing sinner comes and asks for permission to commune with us, I dare not ask him whether his views agree with mine," etc. (L. u. W. 1885, 252.) Dr. Charles Philip Krauth (1797-1867; professor in Gettysburg and editor of the Evangelical Review from 1850 to 1860), though having a strong aversion to the Platform and being more in favor of a revision of the doctrinal basis of the General Synod than his son, signed the Pacific Overture and, in the Platform controversy, was an ardent advocate of mutual toleration. Dr. Charles Porterfield Krauth (1823-1883), prior to his manly retraction in 1864, was an out-and-out unionist, and, in more than one respect, infected also with Reformed views. As late as 1866, at Fort Wayne, he was apparently satisfied with the confessional basis of the General Synod as declared in the York Amendment and Resolution. Dr. L.A. Gotwald (1833-1900; professor in Wittenberg Seminary from 1888 to 1895) was, in 1893, charged with, and tried upon, charges, among others, of holding "to the type of Lutheranism characteristic of the General Council," viz., "that all the doctrines of the Augsburg Confession are fundamental," and "that the doctrinal position of the General Synod, when rightly interpreted, is identical with that of the General Council." His acquittal strengthened the conservative, but unionistic, tendency of Wittenberg Seminary. (Jacobs, 510.) Dr. E.J. Wolf (1840-1905; since 1873 professor in Gettysburg Seminary) was perhaps the most Lutheran of the influential English members of the General Synod since the Fort Wayne disruption of 1866. In the Preface to his Lutherans in America of 1889 he expresses the conviction with respect to our "glorious Church," "that to know her is to love her, and that those knowing and loving her true character will consecrate themselves to the maintenance of her purity in faith and life, and the enlargement of her efficiency in extending the Word and kingdom of Christ." Dr. D.H. Bauslin, who served the cause of conservatism within the General Synod both as professor in Wittenberg College and as editor of the Lutheran World (from 1901 to 1912, when it merged into the Lutheran Church Work), was a champion of the unionistic practises of the General Synod. The same is true of other conservatives who contributed to the revision and restatement of the doctrinal basis of the General Synod as finally adopted in 1913—they all must be classified as unionists, tolerating, on principle, deviations from the doctrines and practises distinctive of Lutheranism. Thus, in the course of years, the unionistic Lutherans multiplied, while the Reformed radicals decreased within the General Synod. In 1896 the Herald of the General Council, itself a mildly unionistic paper, wrote: "It is gradually getting better in the General Synod. True, with respect to some old gentlemen the word of 1815 is applicable: 'The old guard dies, but does not surrender.' And the younger lordings, who swear by the Methodistic Lutheran Evangelist, exercise themselves in crying against the dead orthodoxists. But these as well as the former are no longer strong enough to stop the movement toward the right. 'Toward the right'—that means the General Council, which, strange to say, is more obnoxious to the radicals than Missouri." (L. u. W. 1896, 154.)
86. Dr. William Morton Reynolds.—Reynolds (1812 to 1875) graduated at Gettysburg Seminary; served as professor in Pennsylvania College from 1833 to 1850; with an interruption of the year 1835 to 1836, when he was pastor at Deerfield, N.J.; was president of Capital University, Columbus, 0., from 1850 to 1853, and of Illinois State University at Springfield from 1857 to 1860; joined the Episcopalians in 1863; translated and published Acrelius's History of New Sweden in 1874. In 1842 Reynolds left the Ministerium of Pennsylvania and organized the East Pennsylvania Synod. In the interest of conservative Lutheranism, Reynolds, in 1849, founded the Evangelical Review, which B. Kurtz promptly condemned as "the most sectarian periodical he ever read." In 1850, when asked whether he intended to adhere to the doctrinal basis of the General Synod, Reynolds stated in the Lutheran Observer: "Well, I frankly confess and rejoice in being able to say that within the last two years I have changed my views with respect to several very important points. But this change has not cast me out of the Lutheran Church, but, moreover, led me into it," etc. Reynolds declared that he joyously adopted "old Lutheranism," "as plainly taught in the Augsburg Confession and Luther's Small Catechism." (Lutheraner, April 30, 1850.) In the Lutheran Observer of January 25, 1856, Reynolds retracted his former endorsement of Kurtz's Why You Are a Lutheran, a booklet in which Kurtz affirmed that the present Lutheran Church, with a few exceptions, believed concerning the Lord's Supper what had been held by those whom Luther termed "Sacramentarians." (L. u. W. 1870, 156.) Walther, in 1850, praised Reynolds as a man of substantial learning and a teacher true to the Lutheran Church and her confessions. (Lutheraner 6, 139.) But Walther and other friends of true Lutheranism who staked great hopes on Reynolds, were sorely disappointed in their expectations. In spite of his retractions, Reynolds always was and remained a unionist. In 1857 Harkey gave the assurance that Reynolds was not a symbolist, but stood on the doctrinal basis of the General Synod. When Dr. G. Diehl, in the Observer, designated Reynolds as a strict confessionalist, Reynolds, in the Observer of October 2, 1857, protested that he was a General Synod man, whose primary object was not to divide, but to unite. (L. u. W. 1857, 314.) In his Springfield inaugural address, 1858, Reynolds coordinated the evangelical denominations, and advocated extensive unionism, maintaining that they all base their doctrines on Holy Scripture. In order to justify his apostasy, Reynolds, in 1863, published the statement that, in part, he had been moved to unite with the Episcopalians on account of the bitter "sectarianism" of the Lutheran Church and the denunciations of the men of the Observer party by the Lutheran and Missionary. (L. u. W. 1864, 25.) Later Reynolds was reported to have said that he left the Lutheran Church because he was without employment, and believed every door in the General Synod closed against himself. The Observer of October 9, 1863, justified the propriety of Reynold's action by referring to the constitution which provides for the honorable dismissal from District Synods and the admittance of ministers from other denominations. (L. u. W. 1863, 379.) In 1877 the Observer published an article in which the writer states: "When a pastor who depends for his support on his office does not succeed in obtaining a position in our Church and must suffer on account of this, he may accept a call from another denomination…. Several of such cases have happened, and no liberal-minded man will censure persons who have left us for such reasons." (L. u. W. 1877, 186.)
87. Conservative Periodicals.—In 1849 the English Lutherans in New York declared that the Lutheran Observer was opposed to the spirit and character of the Lutheran Church, and appointed a committee to bring about a radical change in the editorship, or, in case this should fail, to advocate the establishment of a new church-paper at the next General Synod. "Thus one funeral song after the other is chanted to our friend at Baltimore, and partly by his own former adherents," remarked the Lutheraner. (6, 47.) It was but another of the numerous symptoms of awakening confessionalism in the East, when, at New York, June 8, 1853, a conference of the New York Ministerium, in a resolution, declared that they were utterly dissatisfied with the unevangelical and unsymbolical position of the Lutheran Observer as a church-paper, dissatisfied also with the miserable stuff which it contained, and that, in place of it, they recommend the Lutheran Standard. (Lutheraner 9, 175.)—The first German paper within the General Synod which occasionally raised its voice against the apostasy of the Observer was the Lutherische Kirchenzeitung of Pittsburgh, published from 1838 to 1846 by Prof. Schmidt of Lafayette College, Easton, Pa., at a great personal sacrifice. (Kirchl. Mitt. 1843, No. 10.) At Chambersburg, 1839, the General Synod resolved "that we continue to view the Lutheran Observer published by Dr. Kurtz, at Baltimore, Md., and the Lutherische Kirchenzeitung, published by Prof. Schmidt, at Easton, Pa., as able advocates of the cause of evangelical religion in our Church, and that we recommend them to the cordial support of our people." (16.) But the German paper soon proved a thorn in the flesh of the liberals. In 1841 "a Lutheran of Ohio" wrote in the Kirchenzeitung: "It is astounding that the Lutheran Church should support a paper like the Observer and nurse an enemy in its midst; the editor [Kurtz] himself ought to be honest enough to leave the Church whose doctrines and customs he does not love, but regards as false." Because of this critical attitude the Synod of the West, in the same year, declared that it was unable to recommend the Kirchenzeitung to its members. The charges were that the Kirchenzeitung was directly opposed to the Lutheran Observer; that it revealed an improper spirit with respect to revivals and charitable institutions; that it had declared the Lutheran Observer to be anti-Lutheran, and directed its influence against this excellent paper. The Pennsylvania Synod, however, to which Pastor Schmidt submitted the resolution of the Synod of the West, decided in favor of the Kirchenzeitung. In 1849, the same year in which the Mercersburg Review appeared, the Evangelical Review was published at Gettysburg by W. M. Reynolds, whom Charles Philip Krauth succeeded as editor. Both Reynolds and Krauth were prominent among the leaders of the conservatives. What the Evangelical Review, however, really stood for was not unqualified Lutheranism, but unionism. (L. u. W. 1858, 272 f.) On principle the Review opened its pages to both the advocates and the opponents of the Lutheran symbols and its doctrines. (Lutheraner 1852, 136.) Walther's report in the Lutheraner on his trip to Germany in the interest of an agreement with Loehe appeared English in the Evangelical Review of 1853. (L. 9, 134.) The career of the Evangelical Review was closed in 1870. It was succeeded by the Lutheran Quarterly, first edited by Drs. Brown and Valentine, both of whom were not essentially Lutheran, but unionistic and Reformed theologians.—In 1845, Dr. W. A. Passavant began a small missionary periodical which grew into a large family weekly, the Missionary. Though one of its objects was to oppose the un-Lutheran tendency of the Observer, the Missionary itself was free neither of unionism nor even of Reformedism. According to its issue of February 28, 1861, for instance, communicants at the Lord's Supper partake of Christ's body and blood by faith. The Missionary was a champion also of the Reformed doctrine of the Sunday. (L. u. W. 1861, 123. 350.) In 1861 the Missionary merged into the Lutheran and Missionary, with Drs. Krauth and Passavant as editors—a paper which took a decided stand in favor of a modified confessional Lutheranism. In 1861 the editors declared with respect to pulpit- and altar-fellowship: "We do not want to refuse the sweet bond of Christian fellowship to those who sincerely love our Lord Jesus Christ." (L. u. W. 1861, 379; 1862, 19 ff.) The Lutheran World, serving the cause of the conservatives till 1912, when it was merged into the Lutheran Church Work (established 1911 as the official organ of the General Synod), always defended the unionistic practises of the General Synod, and violently attacked Missouri for disapproving of her fellowship with the sects. (L. u. W. 1901, 54; 1904, 564.) In 1901 the Lutheran World wrote: "Perhaps we shall always have three great church bodies, lest any truth concerning the Trinity be lost. Perhaps there will always be Calvinists to emphasize the sovereignty of God, Arminians to emphasize the freedom of man and the work of the Holy Spirit, and Lutherans who place the emphasis on God in Christ and justification by faith in Him." (L. u. W. 1901, 154.) In 1905 the World defended the affiliation of the General Synod with the Federal Council, and attacked the Lutheran for criticizing the Federal Council as unionistic. (L. u. W. 1906, 32.) Without a word of criticism the World, in 1903, published the news: "Rev. Eli Miller, of St. Mark's church, Allegheny, Pa., recently addressed the I. O. O. F. in his church on 'We be brethren'." (L. u. W. 1903, 184.) In the same year the World designated the doctrine that every word of the Bible was inspired as an orthodox exaggeration and an astonishing assertion, at the same time declaring that it was time to formulate a theory of inspiration, and that, in this matter, all eyes in America were directed on the Lutheran church. (L. u. W. 1904, 39; 1903, 307.) In 1901 the Lutheran World wrote that one must not imagine that man cannot do anything toward his own salvation; that grace must not be viewed as such a supernatural operation which effects a change in the moral nature of man while his own exertions contribute nothing; that man must cooperate with God when the machinery is set into motion. (L. u. W. 1901, 234.) The Lutherische Zionsbote, the organ of the German Nebraska and the Wartburg Synods, as well as of the German congregations in other District Synods, was much more moderate and conservative than its predecessor, the Lutherische Kirchenfreund.