History of the Evangelical Lutheran Tennessee Synod

Front matter

REV. PAITI, HENKEL.

HISTORY

OF THE

Preface

Some years ago, the author was requested, by the Evangelical Lutheran Tennessee Synod, to prepare, for publication, the history of this Synod. This seemed to be necessary, in order to present the Synod in its true light before the Church and the world. Some years were spent in securing proper data or material for that purpose. Recourse was had to different sources, as, the Minutes of this Synod and of other Synods, as well as to some of the most reliable and intelligent members of the Church, who were present during the trials and conflicts which gave rise to its organization, and to other reliable sources. The object was to present the true, historical facts, in a fair, impartial manner, without any disposition to reflect unnecessarily on any one, or to perpetuate strife or contention. An honest, faithful statement seemed to be necessary in order to perpetuate the facts.

Whatever discrepancies may appear in some portions of this history, in regard to style, punctuation, &c, may be accounted for on the ground, that such portions were quoted in a general way, as they appeared on the records from which they were taken. The differences which appear in the elements and styles of the obituaries, result from the fact, that they are made up, with few exceptions, from the Minutes of Synod and church journals, nearly, in most instances, as their authors presented them.

In the preparation of this work, care was taken to give such facts and matters as are best calculated to promote the highest interests of the Church, and to give them due prominence in a plain, simple way. Facts and sound principles should be maintained and perpetuated. Truth is what is needed. There is too much cant, prevarication, and hypocrisy.

This work is now humbly submitted to an impartial public, to

determine how well and faithfully its author has accomplished the

object contemplated, with the hope, that it may prove a blessing in

the department for which it is intended, and promote the best interests

of the Redeemer's Kingdom.

S. H.

New Market, Va., i8go.

Chapter I. The Causes Which Gave Rise To Its Organization

PAGES.

Doctrinal Position of the Church up to the Close of the Eighteenth Century — Divergencies from the Standards of the Church — Causes which Gave Rise to these Deviations from the Confessions — Pietism, Rationalism, Exaggerated Ideas of Liberty — Condition and Position about the Time of the Organization of the Tennessee Synod I

Chapter V. Its Work And Development

Its Different Sessions — When and Where — Its Different Decades — Its Accessions — Baptisms, Confirmations for Each Decade — Ordinations — Dismissals — Communications — Reasons for Rejecting the General Synod — Its Extension — Contacts with Other Synods — Position in Regard to Slavery — Organization of Other Synods out of its Members and Congregations — Refutation of Resolutions Passed Against it — Its Position Relative to Promis-

CONTENTS. V

cuous Communion and Pulpit Fellowship, Secret Societies, and Chiliasm — Its Connection with the United Synod — Its Total Number of Accessions — Baptisms, Confirmations, Ordinations, Applicants, Churches, Ministers — Theological Students — Literary Institutions — Basis of United Synod and Constitution — Obituaries 43

Chapter VI. Its Policy

Its Opposition to Mingling of the State and Church — They Should be Kept Separate — Scriptures Present Sufficient Rules for the Church — Denial of the Right of a Majority to Decide Relative to Doctrine or Church Discipline — The Word of God the Only Standard — Synods only Advisory Bodies — The Purview of Synods — Opposition to Incorporating Synod with Civil Authority — Congregational Treasuries — The Power in the People or Congregation — Synods Not Sovereign 262

Chapter VII. Its Future

The Indications Favorable — It Has a Future Mission — Prepared for it 266

HISTORY

OF THE

EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN

TENNESSEE SYNOD.

Chapter I. The Causes Which Gave Rise To Its Organization

The causes which gave rise to the organization of the Evangelical Lutheran Tennessee Synod, in the year 1820, will be found chiefly in the position which the Church occupied, at that time, in regard to doctrine and practice. Hence, it will be necessary, in the outset, to take a brief view of the condition of the Church, in these respects, during that period.

The mpst authentic records seem clearly to indicate that the Church generally adhered closely to the doctrines and principles of the Bible, as set forth and confessed in the Unaltered Augsburg Confession and her other Symbolical Books, until towards the close of the eighteenth and the beginning of the nineteenth century.

They were Lutherans, — just what their name indicated. The first Swedish colonists even, who settled in this country, based themselves firmly on the Augsburg Confession and Luther's Catechism. For a number of years every effort to preserve these doctrines in their purity and simplicity, was made. The instructions to the Governor were: "Before all, the Governor must labor and watch, that he render, in all things, to Almighty God, the true worship which is his due, the glory, the praise, and the homage that belong to him, and take good measures that the Divine service is performed according to the true Confession of Augsburg, the Council of Upsal, and the ceremonies of the Swedish Church, having care that all men, and especially the youth, be instructed in all parts of Christianity, and that a good ecclesiastical discipline be observed and maintained." — Schaeffer* s Early History, p. 15.

In accepting the aid offered by the King of England and the English Society,. the Salzburg refugees made it a condition, "that the} T should be protected in the free exercise of their holy religion, as contained in the Augsburg Confession, and the other Symbolical Books of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, of which they professed to be members." — Dr. Mann' s Lutheranism in America, p. ny.

Neither did Muhlenberg and his co-laborers teach any other doctrines, nor endeavor to establish, in this country, any other system of faith, than that inculcated in the Lutheran Confessions and Catechisms. ' 'The Lutheran Church in America was, from the beginning, built upon the old foundation of the Gospel, as interpreted by the collective body of the Symbolical Books ; and ministers and parochial school-masters were required to preach and teach in accordance with them." — Dr. Mann' s Lutheranism i?i America, p. 112.

"When St. Michael's Church, in Philadelphia, was founded, in 1743, it was publicly proclaimed : 'The cornerstone of this church has been laid, with the design that in it may be taught the Evangelical Lutheran doctrines, according to the apostles and prophets, as contained in the Unaltered Augsburg Confession, and all the other S} T mbolical Books.' " — Halle Nachrichten, p. 288.

"In the year 1748, the ordination of Rev. N. Kurtz occurred, the Swedish pastors joining in the performance of the solemn rite ; but before it was performed, a declaration was exacted from the candidate 'that he would adhere to the pure doctrine of our Evangelical Church, according to the Word of God and our Confessions of Faith. ' The year preceding, Brunnholz re-dedicated a church, as 'an Evangelical Lutheran Church, according to the foundation of the prophets and apostles, and our Symbolical Books.' " — Halle Nachrichten, p. 252.

"In 1760, Paul D. Pryzelius was admitted into the Synod, after having made the following declaration : ' I sincerely promise, before God, the Searcher of^hearts, that I will teach nothing to my congregations, except what is well founded in the canonical books of the Old and New Testaments, and to conform, in all my sermons, and in all my public and private instructions of the Holy Sacraments, to our Symbolical Books.' " — Halle Nachrichten, p. 856.

"In 1 76 1, Muhlenberg gave direction for the form of the deeds for the newly begun church at Barren Hill, to the effect that they be ' prepared in such a way as forever to devote the church to the Evangelical Lutheran doctrine, according to the foundation of the Apostles, and the teachings of the Unaltered Augsburg Confession.' " — Halle Nachrichten, pp. 864. and T182.

"In the Constitution for the Philadelphia congregation (1762,) which became the model for many others, the first article required the minister to teach according to the Unaltered Augsburg Confession." — Halle Nachrichten, p. 762.

About the close of the eighteenth century and the beginning of the nineteenth, the fathers who had immigrated to this country, and done the hard and difficult work of the pioneer, had passed from this realm to that beyond the skies, to enjoy their rest and their rewards. Their fidelity to the Confessions of the Church and her Scriptural services, their arduous, conscientious, energetic labors in establishing and building congregations, their faithful Gospel preaching and careful catechetical instruction, their zealous family devotion, and their pious walk and conduct, had passed, and well nigh escaped the memory of the survivors.

Great political changes grew out of the results of the Revolutionary War. These, under the changed condition of things, together with other pernicious influences, which

4 HISTORY OF THK EVANGEUCAI.

found their way into this country, proved disparaging to the Church and her work, leaving Christianity in a very precarious state, vacillating to and fro, with very little definite or fixed policy or principles. Under this new and unsettled condition of things, Liberty, Freedom, the allabsorbing element of that day, exaggerated and carried beyond its proper sphere or domain, resulted in ignoring almost every thing that was definite, fixed, or established. It seems, in fact, that there was scarcely any positive Christian faith really recognized, and that almost every trace of a true and living churchliness was obliterated.

Pietism and Rationalism prevailed to an alarming extent in Germany and other countries. The former, inaugurated by Spener, — a man of distinguished talents and rare learning, — for the purpose of reviving, in the Church, greater zeal for vital piety and practical Christianity, was afterwards carried beyond its contemplated object by Franke, a very zealous and able minister, and thus, amidst the agitation, it finally resulted in fanaticism, as well as in a perversion of many of the leading doctrines of the Church, and in ignoring, to a greater or less extent, her true Confessions. — Kurtz's Church History, pp. 19S, ipp, 240.

The controversy between the Orthodox and the Pietists concentrated especially around the doctrines of Regeneration, of Justification, of Sanctification, of the Church, and of the Millennium. Page 242. Some of the ministers who immigrated to this country were of the Halle, Frankean, Pietistic school, and they came imbued with that spirit, to some extent, and infused it in some parts of the Church ; and, hence, it is, that we still see it occasionally cropping out, in certain sections, in its heterodox, fanatical elements.

The latter, Rationalism, in the language of Kurtz's Church History 7 , p. 276, crept into the Protestant theology of the continent, especially of Germany. The extremes of Pietism, it appears, prepared the way for Rationalism, the other extreme. One extreme usually results in another, in the opposite direction. Fanaticism generally ends in skepticism. This pernicious, disturbing element, Rationalism, also found its way to North America, and exerted a very baneful influence over the people in regard to the teachings of the Bible, as presented in the Confessions of the Church. The tendency was to yield or compromise nearly everything that was positive or definite, until, as Dr. Krauth said, in speaking of the condition of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, at the close of the eighteenth and the beginning of the nineteenth century, "We had a weak, indecisive pulpit, feeble catechisms, vague hymns, and constitutions which reduced the minister to the position of a hireling talker, and made Synods disorganizations for the purpose of preventing anything from being done." Unionism followed in the wake.

On the 13th day of November, 1787, "The Corpus Evangelicum, or Unio Ecclesiastica," was organized in South Carolina, "composed of Lutheran and German Reformed ministers, together with lay-deputies from the churches belonging to both denominations." — Bernheirn? s History, <5fc, p. 289. But this organization did not long continue, as must be the case with any union not based on agreement in doctrine and principles. Failure and trouble are written on the face of any such attempt.

A few years after the death of Rev. Dr. Muhlenberg, which took place October 7, 1787, the Ministerium of Pennsylvania changed its confessional basis, to the disparagement of the Confessions. In a paper "on the Lutheran Church in America," Dr. Mann says: "While the constitution of the Ministerium of Pennsylvania, prepared under Muhlenberg's auspices, is based upon the Confessions of the Lutheran Church, in that published a few years after his death, they are entirely ignored ;" and Lutheranism continued to degenerate more and more, till a reaction was brought about.

In the year 18 17, a new hymn-book, called Gemeinschaftliche Gesangbuch, intended for the Lutheran and Reformed Churches, published by SchaefFer & Maund, of

Baltimore, Md., was introduced, and after examination by all the Lutheran and Reformed Synods in the United States of America, at that time, its use in all the congregations was authorized. See ''Comprehensive Account of the Rise and Progress of the Blessed Reformation of the Christian Church. By Dr. Martin Luther."* Prepared by Rev. G. Shober, of the North Carolina Synod. Pp. 146, 147.

In speaking of this new hymn-book, Rev. Shober says: "This meritorious undertaking paves the way to universal harmony, union, and love among our Lutheran and Reformed Churches, removing all the obstacles which hitherto prevented that happy effect, and establishes a uniformity in that part of divine worship which cannot fail to be highly gratifying to all those who consider brotherly love an indispensable attribute of Christianity."

No doubt, this insidious course produced, to a considerable extent, for the time being, the effect which the author of those lines so much desired, — for the songs and services used in worship exert great influence. But whilst it was doing this, it was aiding in engendering and cultivating a spirit which, as the child of an unjustifiable compromise of principles, ultimately resulted in ignoring some of the most vital and fundamental doctrines and elements of the Church, leaving her in that latitudinarian state of indifference and laxness in regard to almost every thing that was regarded as positive and definite, in which she appeared about the beginning of the nineteenth century, without helm or rudder, — a deplorable wreck, requiring years for its restoration.

It may not be inadmissible to call attention here to the great religious revival which swept over the United States in 1800 and 1801, not that the Evangelical Lutheran Church gave it any special countenance at that time, — at a

*If occasions for referring to the above work, in writing this history, present themselves, we shall indicate that work by the title, Luther, as ' ' Luther ' ' is the name which appears on the back of the book.

later period this delusive system or plan of operation was introduced in some portions of her territory, — but to show the unsettled, unehurchly state of religion, in general, in this country, at that time.

In regard to it, Rev. Storch, of North Carolina, writes : "By the side of this pestilence (infidelity), there prevails now, for over a year, a something, I know not what to name it, and I should not like to say Fanaticism. Christians of every denomination assemble themselves in the forest, numbering four, six and sometimes ten thousand persons ; they erect tents, sing, pray, and preach, day and night, for five, six, and eight days. I have been an eyewitness to scenes in such large assemblies, which I cannot explain. I beheld young and old, feeble and strong, white and black, in short, people of every age, position, and circumstance, as though they were struck by lightning, speechless and motionless ; and, when they had somewhat recovered, they could be heard shrieking bitterly, and supplicating God for mercy and grace.

"After they had thus spent three, and many even more, hours, they rose up, praised God, and commenced to pray in such a manner, as they never were wont to do, exhorting sinners to come to Jesus, &c. Many of those who were thus exercised, were ungodly persons before, and we can now discover a remarkable change in them. Even deists have been brought to confess Christ in this way. Thus this thing continues even to this hour.

"Opinions are various in regard to it; many, even ministers, denominate it the work of the devil ; others again would explain it in a natural waj^, or in accordance with some physical law ; whilst others look upon it as the work of God." — Rev. Dr. Bernheim' s History of the Lutheran Church in the Caro/inas, pp. 351, 353.

In the Minutes of a Conference, held in Rader's Church, Rockingham County, Virginia, in 1806, Rev. Paul Henkel says relative to this revival :

"Towards the close of the year 1801, there occurred a mighty waking up of religion among the English people in Guilford and Orange Counties, N. C, which caused our German people to understand the true worth of the Gospel. Both the pastors and their people were surprised ; for it appeared exceedingly strange to those who were well acquainted with the order of salvation, that true conversion should consist in such a way as declared by these people ; that true faith should originate In such sermons, as caused such corporeal convulsions, such representations of the devil, death, and hell ; the fearful and awful expressions of lightning, thunder, hail, fire, and brimstone against the sinner, deprived many of their senses, and prostrated them in fainting fits.

' ' As the like proceedings were upheld and defended by so many English preachers, and as many had declared that by means of such workings they had received true and reliable witness of the pardon of their sins and of the new birth, many of us hesitated to contradict such proceedings, although they were thought to be so contrary to the doctrines of the Gospel. Many passages of Scripture were pointed out as opposed to these outward manifestations ; but many good meaning persons defended them as Scriptural, whereupon the important question arose among them : ' Must we not also experience the same thing in order to be saved?' The people became anxious and concerned, were much affected and distressed, and pressed upon their pastors to decide this matter for them, who were unwilling to do this without due consideration and the fullest assurance.

"The German ministers were at first divided in their opinions on this subject ; nevertheless, it drove them to more intimate communion with each other in their official acts, and they have thus the opportunity to investigate this matter more closely."

This course of procedure, that is, this revival theory, also had a tendency to divert the mind from the regular Means of Grace as set forth in the Word of God, as well as from a reliance on the promises contained in Divine Revelation, to a dependence on the feelings or emotions, for salvation, thus disparaging, to a greater or less extent, the true doctrines of the Holy Scriptures, and leaving the Church in a state of distraction, in regard to some of the most vital features of sound Scriptural theology.

In the year 1794, Robert Johnson Miller, — a licentiate of the Methodist Episcopal Conference, — was ordained, by Lutheran pastors, of Cabarrus and Rowan Counties, North Carolina, on petition from White Haven Church, Lincoln County, North Carolina, really as a minister of the Protestant Episcopal Church in America, under obligations always to obey the Rules, Ordinances, and Customs of that Society of Christians ; as his ordination certificate will show, — on the opposite side of which the Lutheran ministers give their reasons for ordaining a man who was attached to the Episcopal Church, as a minister of that denomination. — See BernheinC s History of the Lutheran Church in the Carolina s,

As such, he labored in connection with the Lutherans of North Carolina, and after the organization of the Evangelical Lutheran Synod in that State, in 1803, he continued to labor in that Synod till 182 1, when he severed that connection, and was ordained in Raleigh, N. C, to deacon's and priest's orders in the Episcopal ministry. In his former connection, even as an Episcopalian, he labored for a period of twenty-seven years.

According to the Journal of the Episcopal North Carolina Convention of 18 18, it seems that previous to the year 1 8 16, there was no Episcopal clergyman in that State, and but one congregation in which the worship of that church was performed. Hence it was, that the said Miller thought it his duty to form a temporary connection with the Lutheran Church. He was a man of quite respectable attainments, energy, zeal, and perseverance, and did much missionary work among the Lutherans. But it is not unreasonable to conclude that such connection and policy

IO HISTORY OF THE EVANGELICAL

had a tendency to looseness in doctrine and practice, as well as to unionism.

In 182 1, a move was made to effect a fraternal union between the North Carolina Synod and the Protestant Episcopal Convention of North Carolina. At the Episcopal Convention, held in Raleigh, April 28, 182 1, which Rev. Robert J. Miller attended with a view to connect himself fully with the Episcopal Church, "to which he really belonged, having been ordained by Lutheran ministers of North Carolina, as an Episcopal minister, and was the pastor of an Episcopal congregation, White Haven Church, in Lincoln County," he proposed the establishment of such a union. His proposition was accepted, and received the proper action on the part of the Episcopal Convention, to consummate the contemplated union. At its meeting in Lau's Church, Guilford County, North Carolina, June 17, 182 1, the Lutheran North Carolina Synod accepted the proposition, and the delegates of the Episcopal Convention being present, the union was completed. At the next Episcopal Convention, held in Raleigh, April 18, 1822, the proceedings were ratified. But it seems this union did not long continue. "For, after the year 1823, nothing more appears concerning the fraternal relations of these two bodies." — See Bernhehrt s History, &c, p. 4.57.

In 18 10, Gottlieb Shober, a Moravian, was ordained by the Lutheran Synod of North Carolina, but it seems, that, in some wa}^, he also retained his connection with the Moravians. He resided all his life in Salem, North Carolina, and labored in some Lutheran churches in its vicinity. — In regard to him, Bernheim's History, pp. 441, 442, says : "Rev. Shober was no Lutheran, he was a member of the Moravian Church, and never disconnected himself from communion with the same ; he lived and died as a member of that church. This information the writer received from his own daughter, the widow of Bishop Herrman. He merely served the Lutheran Church in the capacity of one of its ministers, being pastor of several neglected Lutheran con-

LUTHERAN TENNESSEE SYNOD. II

gregations in the vicinity of his place of residence." It is not unnatural to conclude, that such connection and labor would ultimately result, to some extent, in disintegration and disturbance.

During the meeting of the Evangelical Lutheran Synod of North Carolina, in 1816, it was resolved that the Secretary, Rev. Shober, "compile all the rules adopted by this Synod, and publish them in the English language." In accordance with this resolution, the secretary prepared and laid before Synod in 18 17, a manuscript compilation entitled : ' ' Comprehensive Account of the Rise and Progress of the blessed Reformation of the Christian Church, By Dr. Martin Luther, actually begun on the 31st day of October, A. D., 1517 ; interspersed with views of his character and doctrine, extracted from his books ; and how the Church, established by him, arrived and progressed in North America, — as also, the Constitution and Rules of that Church, in North Carolina and adjoining States, as existing in October, 18 1 7."

This work also contains a translation of twenty-two articles of the Augsburg Confession. The translation used, is, according to a statement made by Rev. Dr. Beale M. Schmucker, in a little work entitled, "English Translations of the Augsburg Confession," that of Dr. E. L. Hazelius, with all its omissions and notes. In the tenth article, the word true is omitted, and the article is accompanied with a foot-note, which perverts the true sense, and so modifies it, as to make it acceptable to the various denominations ; and so too, in regard to the eleventh article. Really, the translation is very defective.

According to the first article of the Constitution of the North Carolina Synod, as presented in that book, the first twenty-one articles of this translation of the Augsburg Confession, are made the point of union, and the ministers entering that Synod were pledged to the same.

In that book, the Rules, made by that Synod in 18 17, for its government, appear. In the eleventh one of these

Rules, page 172, the New York Liturgy is designated as one of the Symbolical Books of the North Carolina Synod.

Whilst that work, compiled by Rev. G. Shober, approved by the North Carolina Synod, and familiarly called "Luther," conforms in some respects to sound Lutheran principles, its general tone and tenor are compromising and unionistic, with a tendency to latitudinarianism and looseness in doctrine, rather ignoring the true Confessions of the Church, and disparaging her distinctive features, with a view to effect a kind of general, fraternal union with the different denominations. This is evident from the following remarks which the author, Rev. Shober, makes in the conclusion of his book, called Luther, page 210:

"I have attentively examined the doctrine of the Episcopalian church, and read many excellent authors of the Presbyterians, know the Methodist doctrine from their book, 'Portraiture of Methodism,' and am acquainted with the Baptist doctrine so far as they admit and adore Jesus the Savior.

"Among all those classes who worship Jesus as a God, I see nothing of importance to prevent a cordial union ; and how happy would it be if all the churches could unite, and send deputies to a general meeting of all denominations, and there sink down upon the rock Jesus, and, at the same time, leaving to each their peculiar mode and form ; this would influence all the Christians to love one another when and whersoever they meet, and they would commune together. ' '

Again, pages 211, 212, he says :

' ' I think my sentiments and experiences are as orthodox and Calvinistical as need be, and yet I am a sort of speckled bird among my Calvinist brethren. I am a mighty good church man, but pass among such as a Dissenter in prunello. On the other hand, the Dissenters, many of them I mean, think me defective either in understanding or in conscience, for staying where I am. Well, there is a middle party, called Methodists, but neither do my dimensions exactly fit them ; I am somehow disqualified for claiming a full brotherhood with any party ; but there are a few among all parties who bear with me, and love me, and with this I must be content at present. ' '

It requires no great acuteness to see how such loose, unguarded sentiments vitiated and corrupted the Church, and how they soon afterwards began to crop out everywhere, and still come to the surface in some sections.

Now, in view of all these vitiating, corrupting, and disintegrating influences which were brought to bear on the Church during that period, it takes no very great stretch of mind to see the indefinite, unsettled, lax, disintegrated, and dilapidated condition of the Church in regard to doctrine and practice at the time of the rupture in the North Carolina Synod, in the year 1820. Nor is it any wonder that, in view of such influences, such a state of disintegration and dilapidation should exist, and result in the trials and troubles which followed. For, at that time, according to all the facts in the case, there was not a" Synod in North America that unreservedly recognized and acknowledged the full, Unaltered Augsburg Confession, much less the other Symbolical Books.

In view of such compromising, unionistic proclivities and unchurchly deviations and divergencies, differences in regard to doctrine and practice arose among some of the ministers of the North Carolina Synod, and they were more and more agitated. There were conflicts in the pulpit, in the congregation, and in the family. One of the leading ministers charged Rev. David Henkel with teaching doctrines contrary to the position of the Church. To defend himself against such unfounded charges, the latter appealed to a Latin copy of the Book of Concord, which he had in possession. That gave him a decided advantage, in some respects, in the estimation of many of the people, who were not willing to acquiesce in the extreme, latitudinarian views inculcated by the former. To counteract this increasing advantage, that minister called into question the correctness of these translations from the Latin. This proved disparaging for a while, bnt soon afterwards Rev. David Henkel happened to come across a German copy of the Book of Concord, at the residence of a German in South Carolina, with whom he spent a night or two. After much persuasion, the German let him have the book. This he brought with him r rejoicing in his good fortune to get it, to North Carolina. — This he presented, to sustain the correctness of his translations made from the Latin copy of his Book of Concord. For, this the people could read and understand for themselves, and finding that his translations from the Latin copy referred to, were correct, man}' of the members of the Church took a decided stand in favor of him and his positions, and faithfully defended him and his doctrines against the innovations and false charges of his opponents.