Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-09-19
FOR UNION OF SYN0DS
Articles of Federation Adopted
by Evangelical Lutherans.
AWAITS RATIFICATION ONLY
Necessary to Be Adopted Verbatim by
Each District.
BUSINESS CONSIDERED TODAY
Sixteen Hundred Ministers Interested
in Move for Closer Relations.
Delegates Registered.

| The articles of agreement looking toward
| a synodical federation of the Ohio and
| Iowa synods as adopted by joint COM
mittee representing both synods at meet
| ing held last year were taken up and
thoroughly discussed at the first session OF
the second day of the annual conference
| of the Concordia district Of the Evangelical
| Lutheran synod Of Ohio, held in Grace
Lutheran Church this morning. Rev. ]. M.
Senter Of Dallas, N. c.. and the vice presi-
| dent Of the district called the delegates to
order shortly after 0 o'clock The articles
were read, and the general president. c. H.
L. Schuette of Columbus, Ohio, led in sew
eral Of the discussions.
Rev. ]. E. A. Doermann, president of the
| Concordia district and pastor Of Grace
| Church, Rev. ]. H Lutz of Virginia and
number Of other ministers and lay dele
gates Of the meeting also discussed the
! articles at length. All seemed to be of the
| opinion that a synodical federation such
proposed. which will bring together about
| LEGO ministers, will lead to closer fellow
ship and avoid all conflict in field work SO
| far as relating to the overlapping of terri
| tory by the representatives Of the two
! synods Of the church.
Articles of Confederation.
| The articles as agreed upon by the joint
| committee Of the two synods, and which to
| finally be ratified, must be passed verbatim
| by each district of the two synods, are as
follows:
The church, in the proper sense of the
term is the communion Of true believers
as 1t Is begotten through the means of
grace and as by their 1t edifies itself.
From this it follows:
According n re oh
| is and remains invisible on this earth.
Common participation in the means Of
grace is the necessary form Of the church's
appearance and the infallible mark of its
existence, and in SO far the church Is Wis
ible.
The Office of the ministry-the rights and
duties of the spiritual observation-disclosures
bend not only the general command and
call that believers reduce to practice their
fellowship in the gospel and their right and
title to the means of grace and accordingly
teach and admonish one another in every
manner, but also, without special call, they
preach the word to heat then and unbe-
levers. and, in case of necessity. admin
lister the sacrament of baptism; and then
also that they establish the office of the
ministry, inasmuch as this office has been
originally and Immediately given by Christ
to the whole church.
The office Of the ministry rests upon
all time and consists in the right and
power conferred by special call to ad-
minister the means of grace publicly and
by commission of the congregation.
Right Of Congregation.
The call to the pastorate Is a right of
the congregation within whose bounds the
minister Is to discharge the office Ordi-
nation is a public and solemn confirmation
of the call; and is but an apostolic
churchly custom order.
Attitude to the confessons-A binding
| ,Ic1 ,.tI1 70 fhn foe nf a
! church pertains only to the doctrines of
the faith therein set forth, and to these
| all without any exception.
| Whereas the doctrine of Sunday as
| taught in the confessions is a doctrine
| revealed in Gods word, it is not to be ex-
cluded from the body OF obligatory
| dogmas.
| Open question-All doctrines revealed
tclearly and plainly in the word of God
| are, by virtue of the divine authority of
| said word, dogmatically fixed as true and
| binding upon the conscience. whether they
| have been symbolically settled as such or
| not.
| There is within the church Of God no
| authority whatever of departing from any
truths revealed by the Scriptures be their
content considered fundamental or non
| fundamental, important or apparently UNI
| important.
| Full agreement in all articles Of faith
| constitutes the irremissible condition of
church fellowship. Persistent error in an
article Of faith must under all circum-
| stances lead to separation.
| Non-Fundamentals.
| Perfect agreement In all non-fundamen-
| tai doctrines, though not attainable on
| earth, is nevertheless. an end desirable and
one we should labor to attain.
| Chiliasm-Any chiliasm which conceives
| the Kingdom Of Christ to be something ex-
ternal. earthly and after the manner of
| the kingdoms of the world and which
1 toy, Of holt haf 70
the day of Judgment shall come. is doc
| trine directly contrary to the analogy Of
| faith and is to be rejected as such:
| The belief of some to wit that the
| reign of Christ and His saints. referred to
| in Revelations Xxx. is an event belonging
| to the future. as also that the resurrection
| there spoken Of Is to be understood as
| bodily resurrection OF some believers unto
| life everlasting. is opinion which, though
not incompatible with the analogy OF faith,
| cannot be strictly proven from Scripture
| no more than the spiritual Interpretation Of
said passages can be shown 10 De the true
| one"
Additional Members Register.
At the session this morning the follow
! ing new arrivals of ministers and lay dele
| gates registered with the secretary: Rev.
r. NJ. Carpenter, McCauey, w. Va; Rev.
c. F. Hanwick. Petersburg, w. Va; Rev
| s. II, Puffenberger, Dovesville, Va; Rev
F. w. Rohlfing, Baltimore, Nd: Rev. S.
| G. Schulz Baltimore, Nd; Rev. P. L.
| Snapp, New Hampden, Va, and Messrs.
| c. F. Smith of Petersburg. w. Va. and
| Richard Prizes and ]. c. De.chman OF this
| CITY, Rev ]. H. Doermann CT Manassas.
| Va, and the father of Rev J. E. A. Doer-
mann, together with Rev. DR.. Berger.
| pastor of Zion Lutheran Church of this
! city. attended the session. The former is
| a retired minister. while the latter belongs
! to another organization of the church and
| attended as a guest. The session came to
| oJa of n al "a led oh
| ly after 2 o'clock, when the matter of the
| rennrtS of the various committees WAS