# Lehre und Wehre_St. Louis Missouri_October 1864_S314
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

314 Church and Contemporary Affairs.

and the Augsburg Confession, as a correct exposition of the fundamental doctrines of God's
Word and of the faith of our church grounded on that Word, accepting and holding fast
to it, may at any time be received into the General Synod, provided they meet the
requirements of its constitution and send delegates to its assembly according to the standard
given in Art. II." What reception this mild amendment already found at the Hartwick
Synod is reported by the "Observer" of September 30 of this year as follows: "The
communication in question from the secretary of the General Synod was referred to a
committee consisting of Pastors Dr. Sternberg, W. N. Scholl, and C. Warner. Dr.
Sternberg submitted a majority report signed by himself and C. Warner, in which he
vehemently opposes the amendment concerning the Augsburg Confession, adducing five or six
reasons why it should be rejected outright. The other committee member, Pastor W. N.
Scholl, delivered a short and pointed minority report, which contrasted strikingly with the
wordy report of the majority. For the amendment, speeches were made in an emphatic
but dignified manner by Pastors G. A. Lintner, D. D., E. Belfour, W. N. Scholl, and
W. J. Cutter. These speakers sought to show that the amendment did not, as had been
claimed, aim at altering the confession of the church and the organic law of the General
Synod; that it made only a fair demand; that it left ample room for a difference of
opinion on non-essential points; and that, were it adopted, its natural consequence would be
to create peace in the church. — The speakers on the opposing side were: Dr. Sternberg,
V. F. Cotton, M. J. Stover, and H. Wheeler. The first-named, one might say, had taken
upon himself alone the work belonging to his party, since the others formed only his echo,
though one of them betrayed a close kinship with Jupiter tonans [thundering Jove]. The
Doctor, in two very long and vehement speeches, made some remarkable assertions. He
declared expressly that not a single member of the last General Synod had understood the
matter; had his request to address the assembly on this subject been granted, the amendment
in question would never have been recommended at all. He insisted that the assertion
contained in the words, "" 'which, with the Evangelical Lutheran Church of our fathers ...
accept and hold fast,' "" was untrue, and that the Augsburg Confession had never been so
accepted and held fast. He asserted that this confession was false in fundamental points and
does not correctly set forth the fundamental doctrines of the Word of God (sic!). He
insisted that the confession really does teach the grave errors commonly laid to its charge by
its enemies, and that the contrary resolutions of the most recent General Synod were devoid
of truth. He said that the recommendation of the amendment was a firebrand hurled into
the bosom of the church, while everyone knows that it was made in order to offer peace.
He labored to prove that, should the amendment be adopted, the church would sink into
the sleep of a dead formalism. He declared: were it adopted, "" 'a cry of jubilation would
arise, if not in hell, then at least in the sanctum of a certain editor.' "" (!) Finally he
testified aloud that, should the amendment be adopted, he would certainly leave the
Lutheran Church, which he repeated two days later in a private conversation. The
amendment was rejected by 17 votes to 14." And yet does the Hartwick Synod wish to be
a Lutheran one? And may it remain in a General Synod that wishes to be Lutheran?
Truly, strange things happen within this noble body. — C.
The New Theological Seminary at Philadelphia and the
"Observer." How bitterly angry the paper so named is at the project to found at
Philadelphia a new Evangelical Lutheran preachers' seminary for the Synod of Pennsylvania,
and to base it on the confession of the church, is proved by the "Lutheran and Missionary"
of September 29, with the following passage, which it reprints in letterspaced type from the
"Observer," and in which it rightly finds a new and important piece of evidence for how
necessary it is, precisely given such a standpoint of the General Synod, that a seminary of
one's own, truly Lutheran, be founded. The passage reads: "We would just as