# Lehre und Wehre_St. Louis Missouri_October 1862_S317
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

Church and Contemporary Affairs. 317

thus outweighs [the Reformed] in North America and would form a considerable body if it were really a united Lutheran church. But that is by no means the case. The largest body is the General Synod, which for a long time had little that was distinctively Lutheran beyond the name, and has arrived at its greater extent only because it has allowed room for a certain freedom of doctrine. It is a striking remark of Mellin's that the German Reformed church is more Lutheran than the Lutheran, which may be justified insofar as Dr. Nevin has given the Reformed church a strong impetus toward bringing the sacraments and the church again into greater recognition. One must not take this "Reformed Lutheranism" too strictly, even granting that it is true that the German Reformed feel themselves closer to the Lutheran church of the General Synod's stripe than to the other Reformed bodies. One would conclude from this that these two church bodies are ripe for a union. Yet although they show mutual participation by sending delegates to each other's synods, they nevertheless persist in their separation, which is perhaps explained by the power of custom and the fear of conflict. How far it will be possible for the Lutheran General Synod to persist in its latitude and freedom of doctrine, time will tell. The Nevin movement, and the confessional struggle of the strict Missouri Lutherans, have already exercised no small influence upon it, and it is very remarkable that at present the sons of Professors Schmucker and Krauth, the champions of a broad-hearted freedom of doctrine, find themselves in open opposition to their fathers. Not a few others follow their example in cultivating what is distinctively Lutheran.

The Missouri Lutherans have their center of gravity, to be sure, in the West, but nevertheless keep their congregations in the distant East in living fellowship with themselves. "'When I arrived there, the pastor of the Missouri congregation had just returned from attending the Missouri Synod; he had accordingly made a journey of over 400 German miles for this purpose. The sharper, more antagonistic stance that these congregations take toward the other Lutheran and Reformed bodies leads them to cultivate fellowship with their Missourian fellow believers all the more earnestly. The papers of the Missourians appearing in the West, "Lehre und Wehre" and the "Lutheraner," are also diligently read by the laity in the East; the zeal with which these too take part in the confessional struggle and endeavor to make themselves acquainted with the differences of doctrine constantly drives them anew to seek their spiritual center in Missouri. Where the Missourians have congregations only in the East, they are accustomed to give them the best clergy they have from the West, who naturally — since the West is their natural or spiritual homeland — hold fast with all zeal to their brethren there. Whatever one may think of their harsh confessional stance, their bitter polemics, their unsparing severity toward other church bodies, one must nevertheless admit that they have at their head individual men who are scientifically educated and practically capable, whose influence is felt far and wide. Just as these men themselves left the fatherland partly for the sake of their religious conviction, so too the congregations did not move to America for the sake of earthly interests; and however hard the trials that came upon them right at the beginning, especially through the fall of their leader, they have emerged from them instructed, in part purified and strengthened. Since then they have always had at least a few capable men in their midst as a point of support and gathering. If one wishes to be nothing more than just, one must grant to the congregations of the Missouri Lutherans vigorous life and great zeal for their church interests. It is acknowledged among the other German church bodies that they are a model to them in this; and, as regards outward activity, practical exertion for the spread of their fellowship, for the building up of churches, and especially also serious concern for institutions preparing men for the spiritual office, they may confidently measure themselves against the American church bodies, with whom they also otherwise have much in common."'

"It is understandable that both the strictness of doctrine and church discipline frighten away many German immigrants from the Missourians, however much these may otherwise be respected. Pastor Nollau,