es were delivered by four pastors of the General Synod and
seven representatives of other denominations; 250 men "of every creed,
denomination, shade of religious faith, and political opinion" were
invited to the banquet. (1900, 26.) In 1909 Butler gave the following
advice to the Lutheran Church: "Adopt the name American Lutheran, and we
may make it one of the stepping-stones toward the union of the entire
Church.... The ideal is not uniformity in doctrine and life, but
uniformity in love for Christ and the Kingdom." (1909, 228.) In 1909,
after the death of Dr. Butler, the _Lutheran Evangelist_ was merged with
the _Lutheran Observer_. The last number of the _Evangelist_ spoke of
Butler as "that true prophet of God." And the _Lutheran Observer_ said
in praise of the _Evangelist_: "It has been a power for good in their
[its readers'] lives. Of its records they may well be proud. Founded in
1876, its career of thirty-three years has been one of achievement and
honor. It has made a solid and enduring contribution to the developing
history of the Lutheran Church in this country." (1909, 562.) Dr. Butler
served twice as chaplain in the United States Congress.

81. Dr. J.D. Severinghaus (1834-1905) graduated 1861 in the Seminary at
Springfield, O.; from 1873 to 1905 he was active in Chicago; in 1869 he
founded _Lutherischer Kirchenfreund_ (temporarily called _Lutherischer
Hausfreund_); in 1875 he published _Denkschrift der Generalsynode_; he
established connections with Chrischona, and in 1878 with Pastor C.
Jensen in Breklum, to prepare candidates for the Wartburg Synod; in 1883
he founded the Chicago Seminary. Severinghaus was one of the most
fanatical opponents of Lutheran confessionalism. "The _Kirchenfreund_,"
he declared, "intends to be genuinely Lutheran, hence not in the sense
in which the name after the Reformation was so frequently abused in the
interest of a quarrelsome exclusive faction (_Rotte_). In the Lutheran
Church there have not only been, and have been tolerated, different
opinions on non-essential articles, but it is of the very essence of the
true liberty of the Lutheran Church that such differences must be
tolerated." (_L. u. W._ 1869, 58.) Severinghaus was an implacable enemy
and unscrupulous detractor of Walther and the Missouri Synod. Of his
numerous aspersions in the _Kirchenfreund_ the following has attracted
special attention: "Well, the Missourians are not Quakerish. They
believe in fighting, even