# LCMS Convention Proceedings_St. Louis Missouri_1947_S886
# Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

886 MISSIONS

first German Empire. There were also small bodies of Lutherans
in other parts of France, particularly in the region of Montbeliard,
where the Duke of Wuerttemberg had small principalities. The
development of a Lutheran Church in France was dependent largely
upon the principle “Whose the region, his the religion,” which made
Alsace a patchwork of Protestant and Catholic principalities. In the
Peace of Westphalia (1648) Louis XIV of France received Alsace
and Lorraine under the condition that he would not disturb the
religious character of its principalities. However, he disregarded
his promise, at least secretly, and gave every possible support to the
Counter Reformation under the leadership of the Jesuits. What
was not destroyed and conquered by the Counter Reformation was
almost wiped out by Rationalism, which continued its influence
through the period of the French Revolution until the early 1800’s,
Then a movement of protest arose under the leadership of Pastor
Horning of Strasbourg. This movement, however, was not strong
enough, even at Horning’s time, to gain general acceptance, and
after his death it was effectually sabotaged by the continued training
of the clergy at the liberal Strasbourg University. Two vestiges
of the Horning movement remain to this day: one, the Lutheran
Society composed of pastors who desire to be Lutheran and,
secondly, a number of protest congregations, out of which grew
the Evangelical Lutheran Free Church of Alsace.

Tue State Cyurch In ALSACE

The Church of the Augsburg Confession in Alsace-Lorraine
comprises about 125,000 inscribed members with about 140 pastors.
With the exception of the four years of German occupation it has
been a State Church during its whole history. Despite its name
this Church has no official confessional basis. In fact, the name
itself is the only evidence that it is or wants to be a Lutheran
Church. Neither the officials nor the individual pastors are ordained
upon any particular confession, though a small number voluntarily
subscribe to the Augsburg Confession. Only about one third of the
pastors actually want to be bound by a Lutheran Confession. These
have united themselves into the Lutheran Society mentioned above,
in which they endeavor to win recruits for positive Lutheran
theology,

The future of the State Church in Alsace depends to a large
extent upon political developments, but there are many pastors
in the State Church who look upon the separation of the Church
and State as desirable. However, among the members of the
Lutheran Society there is a feeling that when such a separation
of Church and State comes, it will mean a hard struggle to estab-
lish a Church that is based upon the true confessions,