ement. The
Merger is in more than one way a concession to the original unionistic
spirit of the General Synod. Especially the absence, in the Constitution,
of a paragraph directed against pulpit- and altar-fellowship with
non-Lutherans, and of a definite and satisfactory statement pertaining
to antichristian societies, cannot but be viewed as an _ex professo_
lowering of the Lutheran standard to the laxism always prevailing in the
General Synod. The real doctrinal and confessional position of the
United Lutheran Church, apart from the merits and demerits of its
Constitution, is, in the last analysis, not so much determined by its
official declarations as by the actual conditions prevailing in its
synods and congregations. The real standpoint of a Church is not the one
written and subscribed to on paper, but which manifests itself in her
actual teaching, life, and practise. Judged, then, by what the merging
bodies actually were immediately prior to their union, the real United
Lutheran Church in America is not nearly on a par with what its
doctrinal basis would seem to warrant. G. A. Tressler, the former
president of the General Synod, said in the _Lutheran_, November 7,
1918: "My hope and wish is that, as far as the United Lutheran Church
is concerned, it may merge our best and submerge the rest." What of this
"best"? And what is "the rest"? The history of the three merging bodies
will tell.

10. National Lutheran Council.--According to Article VI, Section 3 of
the Constitution, it is the object of the United Lutheran Church "to
cultivate cooperation among all Lutherans in the promotion of the
general interests of the Church; to seek the unification of all
Lutherans in one orthodox faith." The ultimate goal of the United
Lutheran Church self-evidently is the organic union of all Lutheran
synods and congregations of this country as "The Lutheran Church in
America," or, at least, "The Federated Lutheran Church in America." "The
National Lutheran Council," organized September 6, 1918, in Chicago, is,
no doubt, viewed by many as a stepping-stone to, and a means for the
attainment of, this end. The United Lutheran Church, says the
_Philadelphia Seminary Bulletin_, "is but part of a larger movement in
the direction of Lutheran unity and activity for which we thank God and
take courage. Illustrations of this are: The National Lutheran
Commission for Soldiers' and Sailors' Welfare, The National Lutheran
Council, and the propos