ouncil's confessionalism was certainly not
very far from the mark. It was, then, the persistent refusal, on the
part of the General Council, of free conferences, such as Missouri could
have attended without an _a priori_ violation of her convictions, that
brought about and prolonged the deadlock obtaining between the two
bodies. As late as 1904, at the time of the Inter-synodical Conferences,
Dr. Jacobs declared that he would not meet Missouri in a free conference
without a preceding joint service of prayer; and to this the _Lutheran_
assented. (_L. u. W._ 1904, 224. 370.)

119. The Primary Difference.--In 1885 Dr. Spaeth wrote: "In no other
Lutheran body of the Old or New World has the question on the great
principles of true church unity received such attention and been treated
in such a thorough and comprehensive manner as within the General
Council." There is certainly a good deal of truth in this assertion. For
the General Council did make repeated efforts at grasping and applying
the principles of true church unity. But it lacked consistency, and in
formulating the rules and theories, their theologians were influenced by
conditions inherited from the General Synod. They lacked the courage or
ability of completely breaking with their unionistic past. This was
essentially the charge of Missouri against the General Council--the
correctness of which was vindicated also by the action taken by the
representatives of the synods of Ohio and Iowa at the first convention
of the General Council, 1867, at Fort Wayne. While Walther and the
Missouri Synod demanded a real, material unity, unity as to the actual
content, that is to say, the individual doctrines of the Lutheran
symbols, the General Council was satisfied with a mere correct formal
acknowledgment of the Confessions. It was the difference between the
form and substance of unity. In the _Lutheran_ of August 22, 1907, Dr.
Krotel declared with respect to the doctrinal attitude of the Council:
It "firmly refuses to occupy the unionistic position of doctrinal
vacillation and tolerance. Contrary to the theological temper of the
age, it maintains that there are articles of faith so definite and
fixed and clear as to demand unqualified endorsement and defense."
(_Doc. Hist_., 138.) But Dr. Krotel's assertions are not supported by
the facts. Judged by the real conditions, the General Council has
always been a unionistic body.

THE FOUR POINTS.

120. Altar- and Pulpit-Fel