epresentatives also of the
Ohio Synod served on the Joint Quadricentennial Committee in order to
arrange for a union celebration of the Reformation together with the
representatives of the General Synod, the Council and the United Synod
South, the official organs of the Ohio Synod were severe in condemning
the Merger. The _Lutheran Standard_, August 4, 1917: "There are chiefly
two practical differences that keep us apart, namely, that concerning
altar- and pulpit-fellowship and that concerning the lodge. Concerning
the first point the constitution [of the Merger] has nothing to say
whatever. Relative to lodge-membership, the general body will have only
advisory power." The _Kirchenzeitung_, of the Ohio Synod, May 12, 1917:
"The great and glorious work of Dr. Krauth in the Council has been
nullified. The General Synod's practise of fraternizing with the sects
will prevail. What is sound and good in the Council will crumble; the
proposed union is a great victory for the lax portion of the General
Synod and a pitiable defeat for the Council. Indeed, we shall be told
about the 'salt' that the Council may be in the new body, but that is an
old, old game, which cannot fool people any more. And this to celebrate
the Reformation Jubilee! Would that Luther could return and with the
thunder of his scorn shatter this celebration of his work! Where
unionism has its jubilee, all true Lutherans turn away in sorrow and
anger." (_Luth. Witness_, 1918, 406.) However, considering that pulpit-
and altar-fellowship, where-ever justified, clears the way for all other
external unions, and that Ohio representatives served on the
Quadricentennial Committee for a union celebration of the Reformation,
the above criticism, warranted though it be, will hardly be viewed as
consistent.

CONSTITUTION.

5. Doctrinal Basis.--The Constitution of the United Lutheran Church
provides: "Article II: Doctrinal Basis. Section 1. The United Lutheran
Church in America receives and holds the canonical Scriptures of the Old
and New Testaments as the inspired Word of God and as the only
infallible rule and standard of faith and practise, according to which
all doctrines and teachers are to be judged.--Section 2. The United
Lutheran Church in America accepts the three ecumenical creeds; namely,
the Apostles', the Nicene, and the Athanasian, as important testimonies
drawn from the Holy Scriptures, and rejects all errors which they
condemn.--Section 3. The United