LUTHERANISM. 534 LXJTHEBANISM. ecclesiastical, edueaUonal, and missionary activi- ties. Its constituency increased steadily, and in 18G0 it embraced 20 synods. During the Civil War the synods soutli of the Potomac withdrew. From these has been evolved the Vniled Synod of the South. A more serious rupture occurred in 1866^ gro^^•in<^ out of the friction of two parties, the one seekint; stricter adhesion to distinctively Lutheran doctrine and aiming at the formation of a union that should comprehend the large Lutheran synods which German and Scandina- vian immigrants had organized here, the other party allowing wider latitude and l)eing more intent on fraternal relations with other denomi- nations than on union with Lutherans of exclu- sive principles. Several of the older and larger synods, withdrawing from the General Synod,- ell'ootod the organization of the General Council in 1S()7, with which body all of the Swedish churches and a niunber of Germans connected themselves. The confessional basis of the General Council is stated to be "the doctrines 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." To this is attached the declaration that "the other Con- fessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church [The Apology, the two Catechisms of Luther, the Schmalkald Articles, and the Form of Con- cord], inasmuch as they set forth none other than its [the Augustana's] system of doctrine and articles of faith, are of necessity pure and Scriptural." The doctrinal basis of the United Synod of the South is essentially identical with this. That of the General Synod reads: "We receive and hold, with the Evangelical Lutheran Church of our fathers, the word of (iod as con- tained in the canonical Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments as the only infallible rule of faith and practice, and the Augsburg Confession as a correct exhibition of the fiuida mental doc- trines of the divine word, and of the faith of our Church as founded upon that word." By unanimous resolutions the body has designated the I'nallered Augustana as its basis, declared it to be "throughout in perfect consistence" with the word of Gml, and repudiated "any distinction between fundamental and so-called non-funda- mental doctrines in the Confession." Amicable relations obtain between these three general bodies. The largest American body of Lutherans is the Stjnodical Conference, whose chief constituent, the Missouri Synod, has had remarkable growth. It was developed from several colonies of Sax- ons who were driven into voluntary exile by the sway of Rationalism and who, in January, 1839, settled in Saint Louis and vicinity. In 1841 they chose as their lcail<'r the Rev. C. F. W. Walther, under whose guidance the- ological seminaries, colleges, and charitable in- stitutions sprang into existence, congregations rapidly multiplied, and periodicals and other lit- erature were published. The organization of a synod was effected in 1847. Its constitution makes "the acceptance of all the symbols of the Lutheran Church, absence of every kind of syn- cretism, mixed congi'egations, mixed worship and commvmions. etc.. etc., conditions of membership in this body." Each congregation maintains a parochial school. The extension of its work over almost the entire country soon called for a division of the body into districts, which now number thirteen. In 1872 the Joint Synod of Ohio, with several smaller German synods and a Norwegian synod, united with 'Missouri' in the formation of the Synodical Conference. The most important [jractical work carried on con jointly by this general body is an extensive mis- sion among the negroes of the South. The Joint Synod of Ohio, which before its con- nection with the Synodical Conference had main- tained an independent existence for half a cen- tury, withdrew from this general body in 1881 on account of the doctrine of predestination which prevailed in the Conference. It is divided into ten districts. The Synod of Iowa is a large German body, founded in 1854. mainly by missionaries whom LiJhe of Neuendettelsun sent to this country. It antagonizes "Missouri' mainly on the doctrine of the Church and the ministry. 'Iowa' holding that the ministerial office "was given to the Church in its totality, . . . and that the Church pos- sesses the office in and with the means of grarr not in the spiritual priesthood." A number of smaller divisions of Norwegian , Lutherans were merged in 1889 in one organiza- ( tion under the title The Vniird Xoraefiian Lu- theran Church, endjracing about one-fourth of the entire Norwegian po]nihition of America. There are three indeiiendcnt Norwegian bodir-, five independent German bodies aggregating lUU ministers and 21.000 members, two Danish synods, one Finnish, and one Icelandic. There ' are 85 congregations, mostly Gernum, embracing 25,000 members without synodical connections. The General Synod is mostly English ; the United i S^niod of the South entirely so; the General , Council Synodical Conference and the independ- , ent synods have but a small percentage of Eng- i lish churches. Church Polity. All Lutherans recognize the congregation as the primordial and formative unit of ecclesiastical organization. It is the source of whatever authority is exerpised by the representative bodies, and the final court of ' appeal. Congregations have formed themselves into .synods for the sake of mutual assistance and oversight: but the .synods have no power except that which the congregations have volun- tarily conferred upon them. Yet no Lutheran body in America can be said to be strictly or purely congregational. The jlis.sourians adhere to this polity more closely than others, excepting perhaps the Joint J^ynod of Ohio, their congregations remaining indepen- dent and self-governing. A synod was organ- ized by pastors and lay delegates as representing, congregations, no others having a vote, but the synod has no legislative or judicial power over the congregations, which decide all matters per- taining to themselves in congregational meetings. The synod is merely an advisory body, all synod- ical action, even the election of theological pro- fessors, requiring rntitication by the congrega- tions. All this holds, of course, in the case of the general body, the Synodical Conference, formed by the Missouri Synod with several other synods. The General Synod, the General Council, and the United Synod of the South, without impugn- ing the sovereignty of the congregation, have to some extent followed Presbyterian polity, the
