^{page 94 note 1} The report of the United States Census Office shows that in June, 1890 the Lutheran Church had 8,427 church organizations, 6,559 church edifices, with a seating capacity of 2,159,290, and valued at $34,218,234, and 1,199,514, communicant members. To the General Synod belonged 1,424 churches, 1,322 edifices valued at $8,919,170, and 164,640 communicants; to the United Synod in the South 414 churches, 379 edifices, valued at $1,114,065, and 37,457 communicants; to the General Council 1,995 churches, 1,512 edifices, valued at $10,996,786, and 317,145 communicants; to the Synodical Conferenee 1,934 churches, 1,531 edifices, valued at $7,804,313, and 357,153 communicants; and the balance to the twelve independent synods. But this report we are informed, is not complete and final. Not only have a number of inde pendent churches not yet reported, but the entire Wisconsin district of th German Synod of Iowa has here been omitted. The corrected returns will giv the Lutheran Church in the United States, for June, 1890, 8,500 churches 6,600 church edifices, and 1,210,000 communicants.

^{page 96 note 1} Krauth, , Cons. Ref., 129Google Scholar. “As the church did but the more surely abide by the Apostles' Creed in setting forth the Nicene, and did but furnish fresh guarantee of her devotion to the Nicene in adopting the Athanasian, and gave reassurance of her fidelity to the three œcumenical creeds in accepting the Augsburg Confession—so in the body of symbols in the Book of Concord she reset her seal to the one old faith, amplified but not changed in the course of time.”

^{page 96 note 2} Krauth, , Cons. Ref., 127.Google Scholar

^{page 98 note 1} The same chapter continues: “In like manner in all points in dispute between us and others, they (i. e. the pastors) shall be governed by the aforesaid Scriptures and also the aforesaid Symbolical Books, and shall decide and judge by these alone.”

Part II., chapter ii., of the Call, etc.: “The candidate, if previously a pastor, must present testimonials from his former charge, of his irreproachable life and of his adherence to the pure doctrine of our Confession and our Symbolical Books.” The candidates to be ordained “must subscribe and obey this constitution.”

In the constitution of 1607 this clause is added: “They (i. e. the ministers) shall, with good judgment and reasonable prudence, exclude from the use of the Sacraments and of the Ministrations of our Church, Papists, Anabaptists, Schwenkfelders, Calvinists, New Manicheans or Flacians, and all others who not only do not hold our doctrine, but also are an occasion of offence, and lead astray the simple and weak.”

^{page 99 note 1} Thus the churches of the Missouri Synod usually have the inscription, Church of the U. A. C.

^{page 100 note 1} Doc. Hist., iii., 590.Google Scholar

^{page 100 note 2} Ministerium of New York, organized 1786, by ministers belonging to the Pennsylvania Synod and with the consent of this body.

^{page 100 note 2} Mühlenberg once complains that some have, indeed, subscribed to the Unaltered Augsburg Confession, but that their heart remained unchanged. Halle Nachr., 1214.Google Scholar

^{page 101 note 1} For further information we refer to Halle Nachrichton, new edition, 43, 45, 114, 118, 140, 237, 473, 514, 579, 619, 622, 657Google Scholar; Hartwick Memorial, 197, 251 ff., 257, 388Google Scholar: where the Augsburg Confession is especially referred to. Halle Nachr. n. e., 40, 83, 85, 122, 135, 136, 138, 151, 210, 215, 236, 271, 275, 304, 353, 387, 393, 496, 514, 581, 622, 625Google Scholar f. and 646 refer to all of the Symbolical Books. Again, Halle Nachrichten, old edition, 849 f., 856, 860, 864, 926, 931 f., 962 ff., 1140, 1182, 1214, 1241 f., 1246, 1287Google Scholar. See also the writers Geschichte des New York Ministeriums, 63–76Google Scholar, and Lutheran Church Review, The Organization of the Congregation in the Early Lutheran Churches in America, by B. M. Schmucker, D.D., 07 1887Google Scholar, also Life and Times of H. M. Mühlenberg, by W. J. Mann, D.D., 1819, 191 f., 210, 211, 281, 392 f., 469, 504 f.Google Scholar

^{page 103 note 1} The General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in 1798 declared: “Formidable innovation and convulsions in Europe threaten destruction to morals and religion; scenes of devastation and bloodshed unexampled in the history of modern nations have convulsed the Old World, and our country is threatened with similar calamities. We perceive with pain and fearful apprehension a general dereliction of religious principles and practice among our fellow-citizens, a visible and prevailing impiety and contempt for the laws and the institution of religion, and an abounding infidelity which, in many instances, tends to atheism itself.

“The profligacy and corruption of the public morals have advanced with a progress proportioned to our declension in religion. Profaneness, pride, luxury, injustice, intemperance, lewdness and every species of debauchery and loose indulgence greatly abound.”

^{page 103 note 2} Cf. Wolf, , Lutherans in America, 1890, 271ff.Google Scholar

^{page 103 note 3} Goebel, , Die religiöse Eigenthümlichkeit der luth, und ref. Kirehe, 1837, 123.Google Scholar

^{page 104 note 1} Evangelical Catechism: or a Short Exposition of the Principal Doctrines and Precepts of the Christian Religion, for the Use of the Churches, Belonging to the Evangelical Lutheran Synod of the State of New York. To Which are added: I. A Scriptural Advice to the Young; 2. Sir M. Hale's Character of a True Christian; 3. An Address to Those who Wish to be Confirmed; 4. A Sketch of the History of Religion; 5. A Collection of Prayers for Parents and Children.—By Fred. Henry Quitman, D.D., President of the Synod and Minister of the Gospel at Rhinebeck. With consent and approbation of the Synod, Hudson, Published by W. H. Norman, 1814. There is, however, no record in the minutes that the catechism was ever laid before the Synod for its approval. Notwithstanding the great influence which Dr. Quitman exercised in his day, his catechism did not sell. Several editions of Luther's Catechism were published, and these were in greater demand.

^{page 105 note 1} Rev DrKurtz, B., in Lutheran Observer of 11 23, 1849.Google Scholar

^{page 106 note 1} DrSchmucker, S. S., professor in the theological seminary at Gettysburg, Pa., in Lutheran Observer, 10 16, and 11 9, 1849.Google Scholar

^{page 106 note 2} Rev DrMann, W. J., in his Plea for the Augsburg ConfessionGoogle Scholar, thoroughly exposed the utter fallacy of the position taken.

^{page 106 note 3} It is interesting to note in this connection that one of the three authors of this Platform, and the only one that survives, the Rev. S. Sprecher, D.D., LL.D., has recently publicly declared, that he has been led to a fuller and better understanding and appreciation of the Augsburg Confession, and that he now receives it, every article of it, and without reservation. He continues: “The Church must have a definite doctrinal position, and as all other definitions of our faith as a Church seem to be hopeless (all having thus far been rejected by the Church), and as I feel that personal piety can be as well promoted by the spirit of Lutheran Pietism I feel that there is no alternative but the adoption, without any modification, of the Augsburg Confession.”

^{page 107 note 1} Constitution, Art. ii., Section 3.Google Scholar

^{page 108 note 1} The full text of the confessional basis of the General Council is: “We accept and acknowledge the doctrine of the Unaltered Augsburg Confession in its original sense as throughout in conformity with the pure truth, of which God's Word is the only rule. We accept its statements of truth as in perfect accordance with the canonical Scriptures. We reject the errors it condemns, and believe that all which it commits to the liberty of the Church of right belongs to that liberty.

“In thus formally accepting and acknowledging the Unaltered Augsburg Confession, we declare our conviction that the other confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, inasmuch as they set forth none other than its system of doctrine and articles of faith, are of necessity pure and scriptural. Preëminent among such accordant, pure and scriptural statements of doctrine, by their intrinsic excellence, by the great and necessary ends for which they were prepared, by their historical position, and by the general judgment of the Church, are these: The Apology of the Augsburg Confession, the Smalcald Articles, the Catechisms of Luther, and the Formula of Concord, all of which are, with the Unaltered Augsburg Confession, in perfect harmony of one and the same scriptural faith.”

^{page 109 note 1} These figures are based on Bulletin No. 152 of the Eleventh Census of the United States, and are larger and fuller than those usually found in the Almanacs and Annuals of the Church.