erly, that, like Spener, I can for myself accept the symbols of the
Church without reserve.... It is true that I did once think 'The
Definite Synodical Platform' (that modification of Lutheranism which
perhaps has been properly called 'the culmination of Melanchthonianism')
desirable and practicable, and that I now regard all such modifications
of our creed as hopeless. In the mean time an increased knowledge of the
spirit, methods, and literature of the Missouri Synod has convinced me
that such alterations are undesirable, that the elements of true
Pietism, that a sense of the necessity of personal religion, and the
importance of personal assurance of salvation, can be maintained in
connection with a Lutheranism modified 'by the Puritan element.'"
(Jacobs, 369; Neve, 113.) In 1906 the _Observer_ remarked: "It was
Sprecher's fear that true evangelical piety and the certainty of faith
could not be maintained so well under a strict orthodoxy that made him
hesitate to embrace all of the symbolical books of the Lutheran Church
in his system of faith.... This was one of the effects upon him of the
New England theology with which he came in contact largely in his early
life." (_L. u. W._ 1906, 277.) But even after his manly retraction
Sprecher was not completely cured of the virus of Reformed subjectivism.
Sprecher was among the first who, within the General Synod, declared
that "inspiration does not make a book free of ... grammatical errors,
rhetorical faults, and historical inaccuracies in minor and secondary
matters." (_L. u. W._ 1871, 126.)

79. Dr. James Allen Brown.--Brown, born 1821, was licensed in 1845 by the
Maryland Synod; served as pastor in various congregations; as professor
of theology in Newberry College, S.C., from 1859 to 1860; as chaplain in
the U.S. Army; as professor of Systematic Theology at Gettysburg from
1864 to 1879; as editor of the _Lutheran Quarterly_ from 1871; insane
since 1880, he died June 19, 1882. During the Platform controversy Brown
was a zealous opponent of Schmucker and regarded as a conservative. In
the _Evangelical Review_ he charged Schmucker with teaching false
doctrines concerning regeneration, justification, and inherited sin.
Articles against Brown appeared in the _Observer_ and in the _Evangelical
Review_. (_L. u. W._ 1858, 65.) Though an opponent of Schmucker, Brown
shared practically all of his peculiarly Reformed and unionistic views.
"To separate her from the great multitude