ctice,
and we distribute our absolution _ore rotundo_ over mixed congregations
on Sunday mornings and at the Preparatory Service. But the real
confession we seldom hear and a valid absolution therefore we cannot
pronounce. The Keys have indeed been committed to us, but we seem to
have lost them, for the door of the sheepfold hangs very loose in our
churches and the sheep run in and out pretty much as they please.

But while some of our churches are thus leaning toward Rome, there is
need of caution also against the opposite error. A false and exaggerated
spirituality will lead to standards of holiness which are not warranted
by the New Testament. Of these Luther himself somewhere said, "May the
God of mercy preserve me from belonging to a congregation of holy
people. I desire to belong to a church of poor sinners who constantly
need forgiveness and the help of a good physician."*
*Methods of receiving candidates into active membership vary. Some
synods, as we have seen, make no distinction whatever in their
statistical reports between occasional communicants and actual members
of the congregation. Admission to membership should take place by vote
of the congregation or at least of the Church Council. There should
likewise be some rite of initiation. In the case of adults who come from
other congregations it need not and should not be a confirmation
service, but it should at least be a public introduction of the
candidate into the fellowship of the congregation with which he desires
to become identified. (Matthew 10, 32).

Rome's position was a protest against Montanism. Without question there
is a great truth in Cyprian's position as developed by Rome, and the
Reformers, particularly Melanchthon, guarded it. How often do we hear in
our day the declaration: "I do not need to go to church. I can be just
as good a Christian without." This position Lutheranism rebukes by
making preaching and the sacraments the pillars on which the church
rests. Thus is conserved what was best in the institutional theory of
the ancient church, so that in spite of her many defects both as a
national church and in her transplanted condition, the Lutheran church
will remain an important factor in the development of Protestant
Christianity.

When our Reformed neighbors charge us with Romanism, it is either
because they do not understand our theory and have overlooked the
historical development, or because they judge of us by the Romish