contradictory "official declarations" was one to test and judge the true
attitude of the General Synod?

ACTUAL CONDITIONS.

96. Long Stride from Formula to Fact.--Formal adoption of a correct
Lutheran basis does not necessarily imply actual agreement with such
basis. To pass a good resolution is easy. All Christian sects protest
that they accept the Bible. But they say, and do not. "What you _are_,"
said Emerson, "speaks so loudly that I cannot hear what you _say_." In a
measure this also applies when the actual conditions prevailing in the
General Synod before and after 1913 are compared with the doctrinal
basis adopted in that year. In 1866, in a letter to Pastor Brunn,
Walther wrote with reference to the synods then uniting to form the
General Council: "As far as the latter are concerned, it is true that
our testimony extending over a period of twenty years has by the grace
of God cooperated in causing some synods to speak again of the
Confession, and to base and pledge themselves upon it, at least
formally; but it is a long stride from the formal acknowledgment of the
symbols to a true knowledge of them, and a truly Lutheran spirit, and
the consequent discipline of doctrine and life." (_Letters_, 2, 36.)
Now, the General Synod did not adopt its present basis as a result of
any doctrinal discussions of, and subsequent agreements in, the Lutheran
doctrines. The confessional movement was a formal affair, without any
special effort to arrive at a thorough understanding of, and true unity
in, the doctrinal content of the Augustana. But what value is there in
adopting a confession without a correct knowledge of, and agreement in,
its doctrines? Furthermore, the Atchison Amendments were submitted to
the District Synods for approval by majority vote, not to the individual
ministers and congregations. Adoption, accordingly, did not mean
unanimous acknowledgment. Moreover, the liberal party of the General
Synod, as represented by the _Lutheran Observer_, openly denounced the
new confessional resolutions. (_L. u. W._ 1916, 58.) Others who
submitted to the new formula, no doubt felt justified, in accordance
with the repeated approvals on the part of the General Synod of the
basis of 1864, to interpret the former according to the latter.

97. Doctrinal Confusion.--The General Synod has always been a babel of
doctrinal confusion. In it unity did not even prevail as to the
doctrines which distinguish the Lutheran Church from th