ny recognition, even of
the Augsburg Confession, into their original Constitution in 1820. But
at the third meeting, in 1825, they adopted certain resolutions for the
foundation of the theological seminary and statutes for its government,
and bound its professors to the fundamental doctrines of Scripture as
taught in the Augsburg Confession. They thus returned to the principles
and practise of the earlier and purer centuries of the Church, when the
influence of the Savior and His inspired apostles was more sensibly felt
in the Church." (Spaeth, 1, 342. 337. 354.)

27. "Lutheran Observer" Interpreting Basis.--Apart from its coarseness
and fanaticism, especially during the thirty years' editorship of Dr. B.
Kurtz, the _Lutheran Observer_ has throughout its existence, from 1831
to 1916, always been an essentially correct exponent of the original
doctrinal and confessional attitude of the General Synod. Consistently a
General Synodist cannot disown the _Observer_ without renouncing the
General Synod itself. Now, according to the _Observer_, the General
Synod has always stood for unity in essentials, or fundamentals, and
liberty in non-fundamentals, understanding by fundamentals those
doctrines only in which Evangelical Christendom is agreed, and by
non-fundamentals distinctive tenets, also those of Lutheranism. Quoting
from Dr. S. Sprecher's inaugural address at Wittenberg College,
Springfield, O., the _Lutheran Observer_, October 26, 1849, declared
that Lutherans [of the General Synod], in adopting the confessions, "do
not bind their conscience to more than what all evangelical Christians
[denominations] regard as fundamental doctrines of the Bible. We are
bound to believe only that the sublime plan of the Gospel is taught in
the Augsburg Confession. This is the position held by the General Synod
and by the American Lutheran Church in general, and this seems to have
been the position also of the Church in the earlier and purer days of
the Reformation." (_L._, 6, 57.) In 1860 the _Observer_ declared that
the General Synod was organized on the basis of a compromise with
respect to doctrines of minor import, such as the doctrine of the Lord's
Supper, of the power of Baptism and of absolution. _Observer_, April 8,
1864: "We ought to be one in the doctrine of faith which embraces the
fundamental doctrines of Christianity, while we should practise love
with respect to other things. By fundamental doctrines we understand
such and