t joy and
satisfaction to see and participate in this consummation of Dr.
Schmucker's hope of all Protestant bodies in council and cooperation in
the one common task of propagating the kingdom of God in society and
throughout the world." (27.) The ultimate aim of the Federal Council
evidently is an amalgamation of all Protestant Churches. And there are,
even now, General Synodists who are ready to countenance this
eventuality. In the _Christian Herald_, December 12, 1917, Dr. J. B.
Remensnyder spoke of the essential unity of Protestantism separated
only by minor differences, and of "the practical possibility of a larger
union,--one world-wide Protestant Church of Christ," to be brought about
by mutual surrender of secondary differences. "It will not come about,"
says Remensnyder, "by one denomination insisting absolutely on its
doctrinal type." In the _Lutheran Church Work and Observer_, May 23,
1918, p. 7 f., a General Synod pastor wrote: "With forms of religion and
denominational differences we have nothing to do.... Let each one have
his own faith, his own light and hope." "There come moments when we
forget our differences and our various labels, when we arise above the
partial, the individual, and sectarian, when a common impulse drives us
headlong into the arms of trust and general comradeship...."

THEOLOGY REFORMED.

40. Championing Reformed Doctrines.--Wherever Lutherans unite with the
Reformed, the former gradually sink to the level of the latter. Already
by declaring the differences between the two Churches irrelevant, the
Lutheran truths are actually sacrificed and denied. Unionism always
breaks the backbone, and outrages the conscience, of true Lutheranism.
And naturally enough, the refusal to confess the Lutheran truth is but
too frequently followed by eager endorsement and fanatical defense of
the opposite errors. This is fully borne out by the history of the
General Synod. As the years rolled on, the Reformed lineaments, at first
manifesting themselves in unionism, came out in ever bolder relief. The
distinctive Lutheran doctrines of the Lord's Supper, the person of
Christ, Baptism, absolution, infant faith, the means of grace, the
Sabbath, abstinence, separation of State and Church, etc., were all
rejected and assailed by the most prominent leaders of the General
Synod. And the unionistic spirit, with which also the most conservative
within the General Synod were infected, paralyzed the courage of the