te of its noncommittal policy
as to doctrine, the General Synod also as such has not been able to
conceal its distinctively Reformed complexion. The letter of 1845 admits
and approves of the fact that Luther's doctrine of the bodily presence
of the Lord's Supper had long ago been abandoned by the great majority
of the ministers of the General Synod. It was the Reformed theology,
taught in the books of Schmucker, in the books of Kurtz, in the
_Observer_ edited by Kurtz, and in the _Hirtenstimme_, published by
Weyl, against which Wyneken protested in 1845, at Philadelphia. But his
appeal for true Lutheranism over against Reformedism impressed the
General Synod merely as funny (spasshaft), and his motion in the matter
was tabled. Wyneken was compelled to sever his connection with a body
whose every prominent feature was Reformed. The confessional Resolution
adopted 1864 at York rejects, as will be explained later, the Lutheran
doctrines of the real presence, absolution, and the Sunday. The minutes
of the General Synod contain frequent resolutions in favor of the
sectarian views of the Sabbath, total abstinence, the introduction of
the Bible into the State schools, etc. At New York, 1848, Synod declared
"that we heartily approve of the 'New York City Temperance Society,
organized on Christian principles,' and believe it to be the only system
of operation that will be ultimately successful and triumphant; that we
commend this Society to the attention of the Synods in connection with
this body, and to our churches generally, and urge them to prosecute
this great and philanthropic enterprise upon the Christian principles
adopted by this Society." (8.) At Harrisburg, 1885, the resolutions were
adopted "that we do hereby declare our belief in the divine authority of
the Christian Sabbath as a day of sacred rest and religious instruction
and worship of Almighty God; that we recommend to the respective Synods
of the General Synod that they take such action from time to time as
shall lead to more frequent and earnest appeals from all the pulpits of
our Church upon this all-important subject; that with uplifted hands to
that God who is the Father of us all we unceasingly implore that the day
be hastened when all the earth shall be freed from the power of sin, and
when life shall be one universal Sabbath to the ends of the earth."
(69.) (_Proceedings_ 1848,44; 1853,28; 1864,45; 1883,46; 1887,61; etc.)
In 1854 T. N. Kurtz of Baltimore p