ed the revival of the Old Lutheran Theology." (370.) And
Brown's case was also that of F. W. Conrad (professor of Homiletics in
Wittenberg College from 1850 to 1855, and part owner and editor of the
_Observer_ from 1863 to 1898), who in 1855, when required by the
Wittenberg Synod to defend the Platform, resigned as professor and as
editor of the _Evangelical Lutheran_, stating that he, too, considered
the "errors" enumerated in the Platform as real errors, but was able
neither to find all of them in the Augustana nor to identify himself
with the intolerance of the Platform men. (_L. u. W._ 1856, 94.)
Occupying a unionistic position similar to that of Dr. Conrad, H. W.
Harkey, in his _Olive Branch_, published at Springfield, Ill., also
opposed the fanaticism of Kurtz, Schmucker, Sprecher, etc., but not
their Reformed theology, which, indeed, he shared essentially. (_L. u.
W._ 1857, 313; 1858, 28.) The man who disappointed Schmucker perhaps
more than any one else was his colleague Charles Philip Krauth, who made
no secret of his aversion to the Platform. In a letter to his son he
wrote: "The American Recension of the Augsburg Confession doesn't seem
to go down well. It has received many hard blows. ... A more stupid
thing could hardly have been originated. _Quem Deus vult perdere prius
dementat._ How will it end? I have thought, in smoke. But I have all
along had fears, and they are strengthened of late, that it will divide
the General Synod. It is said that my colleague is determined to press
the matter to the utmost. ... I regret exceedingly the injury which the
Church is sure to sustain. Mr. Passavant's idea of a paper in opposition
to the _Observer_ I approve. There ought to be an antidote to the
_Observer_ somewhere." In the _Observer_ of February 15, 1856, Krauth,
Sr., published nine reasons why he opposed the Platform; the chief
grievance, however, its Reformed theology, was hardly hinted at.
Krauth's plea was for peace and mutual toleration. "I feel deeply
solicitous that our prospering Church may not be divided," said he. "I
shall do all that I can to hold it together. I will pray for the peace
of our Zion," etc. His main argument against the Platform was that it
proscribed brethren who were received with the understanding that they
were to occupy a position coordinate with that of others, and asked
every symbolical Lutheran to withdraw or dishonor himself. (Spaeth, 1,
372f.) Pacification of the Church by mutual to