LUTHERANS. 



461 



passe ! il action of the General Synod 



and that they felt th.-t! 



I t.i withdraw from itf MttioilS ; but that 

 decide by this with- 



:l, or in any other way, the relation of 

 (, ii. r.'l Synod. Tho Pres- 

 ::i..n, l>r". Brown, replied 

 .1 1 the position of tho General 

 ibject to l.o, that it did not con- 

 Ivania Synod out of tho Gen- 

 eral S;. nod, luit'out of its own practical relation 

 to sai after which the Pennsylvania 



'. ithdrew in a body. 

 :mittoo on the State of the Country 

 i series of resolutions which were 

 adopted l.y :i .-tron^' vote. The most important 

 uf them were as follows: 



HetolccJ, That in these, our thanksgivings, we in- 

 .is among the most obvious occasions of them, 

 the final victory which God was graciously pleased to 

 ~afo to our gallant army and navy the preser- 

 vation of the government and its associated institu- 

 .''"iii meditated, forcible overthrow and the 

 .il from among us of the curse of slavery, in 

 whose interest and for the extension of which the 

 war was inaugurated and prosecuted. 



Resolved, That to the millions of bondmen, who by 

 the vicissitudes of war have been so suddenly and 

 Htraugely translated into a state of freedom, the 

 country owes iis most beneficent and paternal guar- 

 tlhin.-hip, to the end that they suffer no detriment 

 from neglect or abuse, but be strengthened, com- 

 i'.irt''d and assisted, in which great duty the Church 

 of Christ cannot and must not bo found tardy or 

 delinquent. 



Besolced, That wo share in the enlightened and 

 spontaneous sentiment of tho people of this land, 

 and of all other lands, in expression of profoundest 

 sorrow, because of the violent death of President 

 Abraham Lincoln, whose memory as a patriot, a 

 :i:m, ainl the highest type 01 a philanthropist, 

 we cherish and revere, and whose invaluabe services 

 to our nation, and to the cause of the suffering and 

 oppressed, we shall ever hold in grateful and affec- 

 tionate remembrance. 



Reports from the several delegations as to the 

 action of their respective synods on two amend- 

 ments to the constitution, proposed at the last 



;ig of the synod one changing the ratio 

 of representation and the other tixing tho doc- 

 trinal basis of admission to the general synod- 

 showed nineteen synods in favor of and ono 



-t the first amendment, and sixteen in fa- 

 vor of and three against the second amendment. 

 The two-thirds majority having been obtained 

 iu both cases, the amendments wcro declared 

 confirmed. 



The convention appointed n committee of 



five to enter into correspondence with those 



syu^ in tho South formerly represented in 



the General Synod, with a view to a restoration 



of fraternal and ecclesiastical relations. A 



of resolutions was also adopted to tho 



that a committee of five bo appointed to 



report at tho next meeting a revision of tho 



iiution of tho General Synod, by which it 

 shall bo made not simply an advisory body, but 

 the 1 Mat'ivo and executive body of 



tho Lutheran -Church in tho United States, 

 whoso acts and decisions shall be authoritative 



and final in nil matters specifically intrusted to 

 it in the constitution. HarrUbur;.', I'a., was 

 M'lected for tho place of meeting for the next 

 convention ; time, third Thursday of May, 

 1808. 



The Synod of Pennsylvania held an extra 

 meeting at Lancaster, on June 8th, in which 

 tho action of the delegates of the synod to tho 

 General Synod was approved, and tho connec- 

 tion with the latter body formally severed. 

 The synod at the same time resolved to invite 

 all Lutheran synods, adhering to the Unal- 

 tered Augsburg Confession, to anite with its 

 members in tho formation of a general synod 

 on the above basis. The synod selected the 

 following basis of doctrine to form part of its 

 constitution : 



The synod declares that it confesses the canonical 

 books of the Old and New Testaments to be the in- 

 spired Word of God, and the only true, clear, and 

 efficient rule of faith ; that three oecumenical creeds, 

 the Apostolical, the Niccno, and the Athanasian, are a 

 correct historical representation of the faith of the 

 church generally; that the Unaltered Augsburg 

 Confession, in all its parts, is a correct exhibition of 

 this faith ; that the apology, the catechisms of Lu- 

 ther, the articles of Smalcald, and the formula of 

 Concord, are a faithful and correct defence and de- 

 velopment of this faith. And, according to this rule, 

 all questions of faith, and of the administration* of 

 the sacraments, shall be determined. 



In accordance with the invitation issued by the 

 Synod of Pennsylvania, the " confessionalist " 

 wing of the Lutheran Church held a convention 

 of synods at Reading, on December llth, to 

 organize a national council, and to lay down 

 the fundamental principles (doctrinal and eccle- 

 siastical) upon which it is to be constituted. The 

 Rev. G. Bassler, of Pittsburg Synod, was elected 

 president. There were present delegations from 

 the following ten synods : Synod of Pennsyl- 

 vania, Pittsburg Synod, English Synod of Ohio, 

 Minnesota Synod, Ministerium of New York, 

 Joint Synod of Ohio, Synod of Wisconsin, Mich- 

 igan Synod, German Synod of Iowa, Missouri 

 Synod, Canada Synod, Augustana and Nor- 

 wegian Synods. The first five of these synods 

 had heretofore been in connection with tho 

 " General Synod," while tho eight others have 

 been independent. Together they represent 

 813 ministers, 1,322 congregations, and 173.407 

 communicants. 



Tho delegates of the Ministerium of New 

 York wished, however, to be merely regarded 

 as observers, as their synod had not yet for- 

 mally severed its connection with "the General 

 Synod." The delegates of all the synods, with 

 the exception of those of the Norwegian and 

 Missouri Synods, declared themselves in favor 

 of forming a new organization, to be called tho 

 " General Council of tho Evangelical Lutheran 

 Ch'.irch of North America," " Evangelischo Lu- 

 thcrische Allgemeine Kircheu Vorsammlun;;." 



Tho following are the fundamental principles 

 of doctrine and of Church polity, on nearly 

 everyone of which the Convention agreed with 

 absolute unanimity, and in tho other cases with 

 a unanimity little short of nhwlute. 



