USA > Ohio > History of the Evangelical Lutheran Joint Synod of Ohio and other states from the earliest beginnings to 1919 > Part 7
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Fraternal Relations With Other Synods and Other Churches.
All along through the earlier years of our Synod fra- ternal relations were maintained .with practically all Lu- theran synods. Delegates were exchanged, conventional courtesies were extended delegates and visitors, sugges-
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tions were received and offered, and efforts at union were freely made and discussed. Ministers were freely and lib- erally given and taken. Even gifts and felicitations were
M. LOY AS A STUDENT.
exchanged. For example, in 1832 Dr. Hazelius in a letter to Prof. Schmidt states that our brethren in the East voted fifty volumes of Theological works out of the Seminary at Gettysburg to the Seminary at Columbus as a token of
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THE SEMINARY, LANGUAGE DIFFICULTIES, ETC.
their love and friendship; and that he himself (Prof. Hazelius) would add twenty volumes out of his private library, as a proof of the interest he felt in the prosperity of our institution. Ohio replied in the following words : "We tender our unfeigned thanks to our brethren in the East and especially to Prof. Hazelius for their unsolicited kindness, and express our joy that they give us such irre- fragable proofs of their sincere interest in the establish- ment of a Seminary in the West." Also with the Tennes- see Synod was there a strong bond of fraternal relations maintained throughout many years. We are sorry, indeed, that later conditions arose which practically broke up these fraternal relations with other Lutheran bodies.
When it became necessary Synod had a voice also for that which she believed to be sound doctrine. In discuss- ing the founding of a synodical paper in 1832 this was the clear note sounded: "Resolved: That the signs of the times and the prevailing spirit of the religious papers which either advocate the cause of new measures and fanaticism, or vacillate like Lot's wife, between Sodom and Zoar, make it necessary that we establish a religious paper, under the exclusive control of our Synod." That was language clear enough to be understood by anyone. Here is a question asked in 1836: "Whether Synod regards itself as invio- lably bound to adhere to the Augsburg Confession and the Symbolical Books of the Lutheran Church in every point of doctrine; and whether this Body enjoins it upon all its members, strictly to teach according to the aforesaid sym- bols?" Here is the answer: "Resolved: That this Synod strictly adhere to the Augsburg Confession and admit no one to membership in its Body who shall deny any part thereof, and that all congregations within its synodical boundaries be advised to receive no one as a teacher who does not fully adhere to this Confession."
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For many years it was also the practice to exchange fraternal delegates with the German Reformed Church. . The Lutheran and the Reformed settlers seemed frequently to go hand in hand into the new settlements. They indeed had much in common. Their language, their privations, their aspirations were the same. They frequently built union churches, that is, the Lutheran and Reformed con- gregations would erect a church building which should serve both organizations. And where each "side" had services once a month or at most every two weeks this would seem like an economical arrangement. Later when services were held more frequently and Sunday-schools established and money more plentiful the union church idea fell into disfavor, so that now very few such churches exist among us.
But in the days of the union church, efforts were also put forth especially from the Reformed "side" to unite the two bodies as one church. In 1831 a majority of the Reformed Synod of Ohio was in favor of a union with the Lutheran Synod provided the terms of union could be satisfactorily arranged. In 1833 at Zelienople our Synod took the following action: "Resolved: That in relation to the last proceedings of the German Reformed Synod of Ohio, with respect to a union of the Evangelical Lutheran and the German Reformed Churches, this Synod also, hereby declare their willingness to enter into a union : Provided, terms of union can be found which are based on truth and righteousness, and secure the principles of the Evangelical Church, but that we wish that our Calvinistic brethren might communicate unto our Synod their view on such 'terms' and the members of this Synod will, till then, endeavor to ascertain the sentiments of their congre- gations on this subject." It was further Resolved: "That, whereas the German Reformed Synod of Ohio has as yet
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THE SEMINARY, LANGUAGE DIFFICULTIES, ETC.
no Seminary, this body cordially invite said Synod to send their young men, who are desirous of studying Theology to our Seminary, as they will not only have free access to it, but may enjoy all the privileges which the alumni of the Evangelical Church there enjoy."
This was meeting the issue squarely and, we have every reason to believe, with sincerity, but the fathers were care- ful not to involve themselves in a union which would amount to a surrender of their faith. The union should be based on "truth and righteousness." The union was never consummated, because Calvinism and Lutheranism are not one faith.
We are also informed that one pastor would sometimes teach the children of both "sides" by taking the Lutheran Catechism in one hand and the Heidelberg in the other. Such a procedure would certainly not tend to deep doc- trinal conviction on either side. It was a baneful practice and we are glad there is no more of it. It was also quite common at synodical conventions, at least in the earlier years of Synod, to have preachers of other denominations occupy the pulpit at one or the other of the services held during Synod. It was also customary to preach in practi- cally every church in the town where the Synod was con- vening if such invitations were extended. These practices were, of course, not in harmony with the sound confessional basis of the Church, but they were in harmony with the prevailing spirit of those times. Yielding to this spirit did not, however, bring about a better understanding with other denominations, but it opened the flood-gates for the spirit of wild fanaticism and abandon that in the thirties began to infest the land. And had not the fathers of a later day taken a firm stand for conservative Lutheranism our Synod might have been swept completely from her moorings.
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HISTORY OF THE EV. LUTH. JOINT SYNOD OF OHIO.
New Measureism.
In view of the foregoing we are not surprised that in some quarters there should be a strong leaning towards new measures.
New Measureism was revivalism at work in our midst. A wave of wild sentimentalism seemed to be sweeping over the entire land. Sometimes it resulted in strange scenes and experiences. The old Lutheran prac- tice of baptizing children and afterwards instructing them
CAPITAL UNIVERSITY ON NORTH HIGH STREET, COLUMBUS, O.
in the fundamentals of Christian faith and life, to be fol- lowed by confirmation was considered by many as the merest formalism. To get up an excitement in a com- munity by holding protracted meetings and finally get the people to shouting and swooning and giving themselves to wild utterances and incantations was looked upon generally as the way to christianize the people. Even men of prominence in the Lutheran Church, notably Dr. S. S. Schmucker, advocated the new measures, and began to dis- count the historical methods and practices of the church.
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From the following extract from the minutes of 1832 we can readily see the inroads New Measureism was mak- ing in some sections of the Lutheran Church. "Whereas we have been informed through the Ev. Magasine and Lu- theran Observer that several of the junior members of one or two of the Lutheran Synods have commenced to intro- duce, or (according to their own phraseology) to get up, so-called revivals and four-day meetings; and whereas we believe that our Church will thereby be polluted with sec- tarian forms and principles; that the measures, so much in vogue at these four-day meetings, have the tendency to beget and nourish fanaticism and disorder, which do more to promote the spirit of unbelief and skepticism than the writings of Voltaire and Paine have done; that the in- coherent and indigested speeches, the chief contents of which are hell and damnation, the sole object of which is to awaken and raise fear and despair and the consequence of which is general confusion-here one prays aloud, there one sings, a third groans, a fourth goes into hysterics - we believe that such harangues end in bringing disgrace upon the ministry ; that such discourses are in unison with the dark and terrible Mosaic but not with the clear and mild Gospel dispensation. Revivals are a new measure in- vented by those sects who, disobedient to the command of Jesus, do not regularly and fully instruct their youth but rather make proselytes of those who have grown up in heathenish ignorance, in the shortest possible time and with- out much trouble. And finally whereas we are convinced, that that way in which we walk, that usage which has ob- tained in our Church since the time of the Reformation, according to which we feed the lambs with the milk of the Gospel after we have carried them through Holy Baptism into the fold of Jesus, and after having thoroughly in- structed them in all the doctrines of the Christian religion
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HISTORY OF THE EV. LUTH. JOINT SYNOD OF OHIO.
authorize them in the apostolic rite of confirmation to par- ticipate in all the privileges of the Church, -is the old way, the way commanded by Jesus (John 21, 15 and Matt. 28, 19. 20), the way followed by all the Apostles and en- joined by the immortal Luther and as we desire to walk in it, turning neither to the right nor to the left, be it: Re- solved: That we hereby express our disapprobation, and protest against these new ways and measures which ac- commodate themselves to the fanatical spirit of the times and hereby publicly declare our intention to remain im- mutably pure Evangelical Lutherans in faith, form and dis- cipline according to the Bible and the Symbolical Books of the Lutheran Church."
From these extracts we may see that the fathers were troubled not a little with the wild fire of fanaticism. But. by calm and deliberate counsel as well as by fortitude of faith they succeeded in stemming the tide that at times threatened to engulf them and drag them from the old .moorings of the Church. Some of course did fall a prey to the fanatic wave but the great majority in our Synod held fast.
CHAPTER IV.
1846-1856.
SWARMING TIME.
The English Districts.
A sketch of the organization and early years of the English District is somewhat out of its historical place at this point, as the District was organized already in 1836, but in order to get the proper perspective on the somewhat erratic movements of this body we have deemed it best to consider the Seminary, Language Difficulties and New Measureism first. By so doing we may be more able to understand and put a proper evaluation upon the move- ments and counter currents that sometimes seemed to con- spire for the overthrow of the Synod.
The reader will recall from Chapter III how the first two districts of the Joint Synod, the Eastern and Western, were formed. They grew out of the parent stem like two corn blades. Synod was growing and in some advantage- ous way she tried to cover the ground and so from time to time she unfolded her districts. True, not all synods in the land grew in this way. Some of the general bodies are rather an amalgamation of individual synods, some rather loosely held together, others more tightly joined. There is no rule laid down in Scripture nor in the Confes- sions of the Church as to how general synodical bodies are to be constituted; hence they may be formed by the un- folding process or by adhesion or amalgamation. It is es- sential however that the units composing the general body
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be one "in hope and doctrine, one in charity" no matter what the manner of their coming together may have been.
We shall not attempt to argue which is the better way, general or joint synodical formation. Circumstances and conditions are to a large extent the determining factors. This however we may state, simply as a matter of fact, that the Joint Synod, for the most part at least, grew and extended her borders by the unfolding process. She grew and still grows from the inside out.
To use another example, the situation in the Lutheran Church in this country is somewhat after the manner of the political situation before the Civil War. There are those who advocate a confederacy of districts or synods. They say that these bodies are like sovereign states and can come and go in the larger body much as they please. They are strong on "State Rights," but weak on "Federal Union." On the other hand there are those, and to this class we believe the Joint Synod belongs, who hold that the constitution of the general body determines the status of the individual districts; in other words, we hold with the United States that there can be no secession without disruption, and that when a district insists on withdrawal the only legitimate motive it can have is a change of doc- trine which in the nature of things makes it a foreign body. With these preliminary observations let us follow the his- tory of our English Districts and their "swarmings."
At the Joint Synod at Lancaster, O., 1836, "permission and authority was granted to organize an English Lutheran Synod of Ohio within the boundaries of the German Lu- theran Synod of Ohio." The constitution which was to govern this body was essentially that of the Joint Synod with the following important additions: "That this Synod does not recognize any minister of any Synod as a member of this body, who denies that the doctrinal articles of the
ST. JOHN'S CHURCH, PITTSBURGH, N. S., PA.
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HISTORY OF THE EV. LUTH. JOINT SYNOD OF OHIO.
Augsburg Confession of faith are the fundamental doc- trines of the Lutheran Church."
"It shall be the duty of this Synod to continue in the connection, aforesaid, of the German Synod and without the concurrence of this Synod not to unite with any other out of the district of the said German Synod of Ohio."
On this basis the Synod was organized at Somerset, Ohio, Nov. 7, 1836. Four ordained ministers, Charles Henkel, James Manning, John B. Reck and E. Greenwald, were present, also six licensed candidates and four lay delegates, representing in all about 1,173 communicant members. Rev. James Manning was elected President, Rev. E. Greenwald, Secretary, and Rev. C. Henkel, Treas- urer. The synodical meetings were conducted as those of the Eastern or Western Districts only that the English lan- guage was used exclusively.
But it was not long until there was some dissatisfac- tion expressed with reference to the confessional basis and the, relation to the Joint Synod. The free, wild spirit of the times was taking hold of the brethren. And so it came about that at Zanesville in 1840 a committee on constitu- tion brought the following report before the Synod: "The committee appointed at the last regular convention of Synod, to lay before this session of the same such amend- ments of the constitution as they may deem necessary and advantageous beg leave to report as follows :
After a careful and attentive examination of the above document it is the unanimous conviction of your committee, that to preserve peace and harmony in our body the supplementary articles I and VII [these articles refer to the confessional basis and connection with the Joint Synod] should forthwith be expunged, and that our Synod and ministerium should be free and independent of all others. Your committee recommends, therefore, the
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SWARMING TIME.
immediate erasure of the above supplementary articles from the constitution and the adoption of the following: That the Synod and ministerium is, and of right ought to be free and independent, subject to the control and juris- diction of no other ecclesiastical body." This report was adopted, at least by a majority. We are told in the minutes of that meeting that there was not much opposition and but one loud dissenting voice.
This was rather high-handed action and contrary to an article of the Constitution which was not thrown out, viz .: "No alteration of the Constitution can be made, ex- cept notice of such intended alteration be first given by a vote of the previous annual convention." In this case the proposed alteration and the vote thereon were given at the same convention. But why discuss? When another spirit has come in, constitution and law become but mere "scraps of paper." It was perhaps best that the separation occur- red for "how can two walk together except they be agreed."
At this meeting the minority "unwilling to have the connection heretofore existing between the English Synod and the Joint Synod of Ohio severed, and particularly be- ing unwilling to relinquish their interest in the Theological Seminary, drew up and signed the following declaration, and upon the ground of it reorganized the English Synod of Ohio as heretofore constituted." A statement of the disorderly proceedings then follows, closing with the words : "Therefore we deem it necessary to supply the vacant of- fices, and thus distinctly declare that we design that the connection between the English Synod and the Joint Synod of Ohio shall continue as heretofore. Signed: Ministers -- Charles Henkel. James Manning, E. Greenwald, Joseph A. Roof, A. Bartholomew; lay delegates - Jacob Long, Emanuel Kephart, Samuel Blecher, David Knisely, John
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HISTORY OF THE EV. LUTH. JOINT SYNOD OF OHIO.
Bowman." The reorganization took place and the officers elected at the first meeting in 1836 were again placed in office and the brave little company went right on as the English Synod, holding their next convention in 1841 at Newcomerstown, Ohio, designating it as the sixth meeting. The swarming party became the East Ohio Synod and soon thereafter united with the General Synod.
Much has been written about that schismatic meeting at Zanesville, much perhaps that should not have been written or said, but there is one picture of that scene which we should like to have preserved.
Rev. Charles Henkel of Somerset, on account of ill- ness, arrived just after the majority withdrew. Next morning when the minority read its declaration of loyalty an eyewitness tells us that Rev. Henkel, "pale and emaci- ated, scarcely able to stand and suffering under the severe and protracted illness, which in a few weeks afterward brought him to the grave, arose and made one of the most solemn and powerful appeals, which many pronounced to have been unequaled by anything they had ever listened to. And when he raised his quivering finger and pointed to his gray hairs, and in tremulous and subdued tones-so soon to be hushed in the stillness of the tomb-told those young men that before their hairs became as gray as his they would regret the step they had taken, many an eye glistened with the swelling tear, and many a heart heaved with deep emotion, but those young men sat and smiled in derision! And after all this we are told, 'why did you not speak?' I must leave this point, for I dare not trust myself to write what I feel."
Pastor Charles Henkel entered into his rest Feb. 2, 1841, in the 43d year of his age, strong in faith and with a firm hope of eternal life. His body rests in the old ceme-
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SWARMING TIME.
REV. EMANUEL CRONENWETT, D. D., '61. Oldest Living Graduate of Capital University in the Joint Synod.
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HISTORY OF THE EV. LUTH. JOINT SYNOD OF OHIO.
tery at Somerset and his grave is marked by a fitting monu- ment.
In 1846, at the convention of the reorganized District, President D. Rothacker in his presidential address sounds a clear note. He says: "The fiery flood of religious excite- ment which has been passing through our country for the last few years, threatening to devour some of the fairest portions of the church (but which it is true has measurably abated), has left in its train the seeds of discord among brethren, and in many instances the most bitter hatred and enmity-while some, in contending about external forms and measures have fallen into the snare of the devil; others have been carried about by every wind of doctrine from one denomination to another, seeking rest and finding none, and not a few have been landed on the frigid shores of infidelity."
In 1850 President Greenwald has this hopeful word for Capital University : "This institution has commenced operations with much success and gives high promise, not only of usefulness, but also of being well sustained. The Church in the West has much to expect from this institu- tion, and I hope that all will unite as one man to cher- ish it."
Everything seemed to move along smoothly for several years, but occasionally a buzzing and apparent restlessness around the synodical hive seemed to indicate that swarm- ing time was again approaching. In 1854 a majority of the delegates of the English Synod sent a protest against "the position and spirit of the Joint Synod." They accused the Joint Synod of "intolerance, oppression and inconsist- ency, as well as pursuing a ruinous policy with regard to our Church institutions." The old and for the most part unnecessary language trouble was again strongly in evi- dence. And in this trouble, as is usually the case, there
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SWARMING TIME.
was nastiness displayed on both sides. And back of it all the insidious "lodge question" seemed to be lurking. But the Joint Synod wanted to be patient, as is seen from the following resolution: "Resolved, that we herewith assure the English District of our continued fraternal feeling toward them and entreat them prayerfully to consider whether their best interests and those of the Church do not require them to leave the tie which hitherto bound us together, unbroken."
But the break came. In 1855 at Wooster, Ohio, a second English Synod seceded from the Joint Synod, but not without protest. The Revs. A. S. Bartholomew, D. Rothacker and P. J. Buehl at once demanded their dis- missals from the English Synod. G. Baughman, who was not present at the meeting, did likewise. "Ten years had scarcely passed when this same Synod asked to be admitted again into the Joint Synod, but the strictures in its propo- sitions were so inconsistent with the position of our Synod that the overtures could not be entertained. In about two years thereafter this Synod dissolved, never again to be reorganized. Rev. James Manning was the only member of that Synod who, after it disbanded, returned to the fold of the Joint Synod.
Scarcely had the second swarm departed when a move- ment was set on foot to organize another English District. Joint Synod needed an English District and she knew it. She needed the English influence and she sacrificed much to get the right kind.
In 1856 at Delaware, Ohio, Joint Synod passed the following resolution : "Resolved : That those ministers who on their own account or for the sake of their congrega- tions deem the formation of an English District necessary, have leave to form such an one." In accordance with this resolution quite a number of brethren already in connec-
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tion with the Joint Synod and the Brethren Swartz and Stirewalt of the Tennessee Synod, who have congregations in Ohio and Indiana, took preparatory steps to organize a new English District. At the preliminary organization Pastor J. Leist was called to the chair and Pastor Swartz was appointed secretary. After a warm but fraternal dis- cussion a resolution was passed, "That we organize an English District Synod in accordance with the constitution of the Joint Synod of Ohio, regarding, however, in our con- nection with the Joint Synod, her actions as advisory and not binding authority, as also the constitution of the Joint Synod itself declares." A committee, consisting of Prof. Worley and Pastors Swartz and Albrecht, was appointed to present a constitution in accordance with the basis laid down in the above-mentioned resolution at the following meeting to be held in Circleville next August.
The meeting was held. A constitution, substantially that of the Joint Synod, was adopted. The name of the new organization was: the "English Evangelical Lutheran District Synod, in connection with the Evangelical Lutheran Joint Synod of Ohio and Adjacent States." A long title. indeed, for a small synod. The following signed the con- stitution: D. Worley, Joel Swartz, C. Albrecht, J. Leist, A. Henkel, D. M. Martens, J. Weimer, J. L. Stirewalt. The election resulted in making C. Albrecht, President; J. L. Stirewalt, Secretary and D. Worley, Treasurer.
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