152. Holston Synod.—The Ev. Luth. Holston Synod was organized January 2, 1861, by 11 ministers and 16 congregations (with a communicant membership of 1,000) residing in East Tennessee and neighboring counties of Virginia, after having received their honorable dismission for this purpose from the Tennessee Synod, which by this action was left without a single congregation or minister in the State whose name she bears. The step was taken not because of any dissatisfaction with the doctrinal position of the Tennessee Synod, but on account of the inconvenience and expensiveness of attending her conventions. However, the peculiar attitude of the Tennessee Synod toward theological seminaries, incorporation, synodical treasuries, etc., contributed to the separation. (Holston Minutes, 1861 ff.) In his Quartocentennial Address, 1886, Dr. A.J. Brown, for more than twenty-five years president of the Holston Synod, stated: "There was at the time of her formation, and had been for some time prior to this, considerable dissatisfaction with the constitution of the Tennessee Synod, and strong efforts were being made to have it amended. It was contended by the advocates of reform that that instrument contained features and prohibitions which cramped and crippled the energies of the Church in the prosecution of her sublime mission, and that it no longer reflected the views of the whole Synod." The Holston Synod, then, did not model her polity after that of the mother synod. (Minutes, 1886.) But, while this was undoubtedly a progress in the right direction, the strict Lutheranism of the Holston Synod did not prove to be as pronounced and consistent as that of the Tennessee Synod had been. In 1886 the Holston Synod numbered 15 pastors and 27 congregations, with a communicant membership of 2,000, compared with 1,800 communicant members at present. The minutes of the Holston Synod record numerous reports and resolutions with respect to Mosheim Institute, which, however, proved to be a failure.

153. Sound Doctrinal Position.—As a preliminary basis the Holston Synod, in 1861, adopted the Augsburg Confession and Luther's Smaller Catechism, at the same time declaring that "we do not intend to repudiate the rest of the Symbolical Books so called, and unlutheranize those who adopt them in connection with the Symbols which we have adopted, because we are satisfied that they, rightly understood and explained, contain nothing contrary to our doctrinal basis, and that we will, therefore, not refuse to fellowship those who adopt the collective body of the Symbolical Books as their Confessional Basis." (Minutes, 1861, 6.) Owing to the unsettled state of affairs in consequence of the Civil War, the constitution was not ratified till 1865. Its second article, "Of the Confessional Basis," reads as follows: "1. We acknowledge the canonical books of the Old and New Testaments as the only infallible rule of faith and practise. 2. We acknowledge the Augsburg Confession of Faith and Luther's Smaller Catechism as a correct statement of the doctrines of the Christian system of which they treat, and no minister connected with this Synod shall hold or preach, nor shall any church connected with this Synod, or any private member of any Church so connected, hold or propagate, any doctrine which may be repugnant to these universally acknowledged symbols of the Evangelical Lutheran Church." (Minutes, 1865, 11.) In its revised constitution of 1895 the Holston Synod adopted all the Lutheran symbols.

154. Entering Various Unions.—In 1867 the Holston Synod resolved to unite with the General Synod South. In the following year A.J. Brown reported that he had been present at the last session of the General Synod, and that he was highly pleased with the action of that Synod, and felt assured that "it would be instrumental in bringing about much good in our Lutheran Zion." (Minutes, 1868, 4.) In 1872, however, a resolution was adopted to withdraw from the General Synod because "there is much that is un-Lutheran in doctrine and practise in individual members" of that Synod. (7.) Two years later a union was effected with the General Council. (Minutes, 1874, 13.) In 1880 the delegate to the General Council "presented in glowing words the intellect, the breadth of view, the depth and elegance of culture, the sincere love and burning zeal for the soul and God's holy truth, of those composing that body." (19.) In 1885 the Holston Synod endorsed the action of the Diet held at Salisbury (1884), and declared its readiness to join the remainder of the Southern Lutheran synods, on that basis, to form a General Union. (11.) In his Presidential Report, 1886, A.J. Brown stated with respect to the Salisbury agreement: "I will barely add that the union was effected without any compromise of principle or proper feeling of self-respect on either side, and on a basis strictly Lutheran, and with a unanimity unprecedented in the history of similar movements." (7.) In 1890 the delegate to the United Synod reported: "While united in doctrine, it is to be regretted that we are not so fully united in practise, as was made apparent by the action of the United Synod on the 'By-laws, Rules of Order, and Regulations,' and particularly in regard to work. This section, which is the bone of contention, embraces substantially the celebrated 'Four Points.' And even here the difference is not so much in principle as in the practical application of principles. There are extremes on both sides. An attempt to embody the Four Points' in our basis of union would have defeated the organic union of our Southern Church in one general body; the adoption of the regulation in question would now disrupt it. We advise moderation. The union of our Church in the South is of too much importance to be broken up, or even hazarded by the adoption of any measures not clearly required by our doctrinal standards, or of doubtful expediency." (15.) Thus also with the Holston Synod union had become the primary, unity a secondary consideration.

COMMON SERVICE.

155. A Chief Bond of Union.—The relations of the United Synod with the General Council and the General Synod were of a most cordial nature, manifesting themselves in the exchange of fraternal delegates (established by Southern General Synod in 1878) and in various cooperations, especially in the preparation and use of the Common Service. Concerning the exchange of delegates the sentiment was voiced again and again: "It was the joy of the members of the United Synod to have present the brethren of those bodies, to dwell together in goodly fellowship for a little season. Every heart was glad to feel that we were one in the faith and usage of the Evangelical Lutheran Church." Also with respect to the United Synod the Merger in 1918 came as a ripe fruit of the cordial relations which had been cultivated for decades. One of the chief bonds of union during this period was the Common Service, for which the United Synod justly claimed to be entitled to special credit. The first impulse for such a unity in service came from H.M. Muhlenberg. In a letter of November 5, 1783, four years before his death, he expressed the desire "that it would be a most delightful and advantageous thing if all the Evangelical Lutheran congregations in North America were united with one another by using the same order of service." Among others who later entertained the same wish was Charles Philip Krauth. In a letter to his son, April 2, 1857, he said: "Whilst I am anxious for such an agreement in regard to a doctrinal basis as will embrace all the wings of Lutheranism in our country, I very much wish we could agree on forms of worship in accordance with the liturgical character of our Church, and erect a barrier against the Fanaticism and Methodism which so powerfully control some of our ministers and people." (Spaeth, C.P. Krauth, 1, 380.) The English Liturgy (1860), the Church Book (1868), and the Kirchenbuch (1877) of the Pennsylvania Synod and the Book of Worship of the General Synod, South, may be regarded as preliminary steps toward the realization of this wish.

156. Cooperation of General Bodies.—In a letter to the convention of the General Synod South, at Winchester, Va., 1870, Dr. Bachman of Charleston, four years before his death, expressed it as the strongest desire of his heart that all English-speaking Lutherans should have a common service. Pursuant to, and in accordance with, this request the General Synod South in 1874 elected a committee to prepare "The Common Service for the Use of Evangelical Lutheran Congregations." In 1876 Synod proposed negotiations on this matter with the General Synod and the General Council. The General Council, in 1879, resolved to cooperate, "provided the rule which shall decide all questions in its [Common Service] preparation shall be: The common consent of the pure Lutheran liturgies of the sixteenth century, and, when there is not an entire agreement among them, the consent of the largest number of those of greatest weight." In 1883 the General Synod declared her readiness to cooperate in accordance with the rule proposed by the General Council. The work was completed by a Joint Committee appointed by the three general bodies, B.M. Schmucker serving as chairman. In 1888 the Common Service appeared in two editions, one published at Columbia, S.C., by the United Synod South, the other at Philadelphia by the General Synod. In his preface to the Southern edition B.M. Schmucker said: "The Common Service here presented is intended to reproduce in English the consensus of these pure Lutheran Liturgies. It is therefore no new Service, such as the personal tastes of those who have prepared it would have selected and arranged; but it is the old Lutheran Service, prepared by men whom God raised up to reform the Service, as well as the life and doctrine of the Church, and whom He plenteously endowed with the gifts of the Holy Ghost.... This Common Service is in its newest parts as old as the time of the Reformation," etc. The work of the committee was approved by the three cooperating general bodies. The General Synod ratified it in 1885 and adopted the Manuscript in 1887. The efforts made at the conventions in 1880, 1891, and 1893 to rescind this action failed. The Common Service was adopted also by the Iowa Synod, the Joint Synod of Ohio, and the English District of the Missouri Synod. But, while every Lutheran will rejoice at this success, it must not be overlooked that liturgical similarity dare never take the place of doctrinal unity. In 1873, in a public letter, the secretary of the East Pennsylvania Synod declared that similarity of ceremonies in the whole synod was of greater import than unity in confession (L. u. W. 1873, 153.) Perhaps, this was exceptional. However, it does not appear that the bodies cooperating in preparing the Common Service developed a corresponding energy and determination in bringing about a true Lutheran unity in doctrine and practise. Yet, unity in doctrine is of divine obligation and of the very essence of the Lutheran Church, while similarity in ceremonies, desirable and advantageous as it may be, is, and always must remain, a matter of expediency and Christian liberty.

THE END OF VOLUME II.