UNION, ECCLESIASTICAL, IN GERMANY.
By ecclesiastical union is meant the uniting of churches of diverse creeds into a single communion without change of denominational peculiarities, such union being distinctively Protestant, and in this discussion especially German. For such movements in England and America see Church Federation. The attempts to unite the Roman Catholic Church and- other religions are not, strictly speaking, unionistic, since the Roman Church insists upon acknowledgment of the supremacy of the pope, which itself involves change of doctrine and loss of denominational characteristics.
The Reformation resulted in two confessions distinct in doctrine, organization, and worship, as opposed to each other as both were to the Roman
Church. In Switzerland, Holland, r. Ecclesi- Scotland, and France the Reformed asticai became supreme; in the Scandinavian Situation lands Lutheranism was triumphant; Before in Germany alone did the two exist Union. side by side. Here the Lutherans were
more opposed to union than were the Reformed, the -divergency being essentially doctrinal and eucharistic. Orthodoxy forbade all union during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, but when orthodoxy's supremacy was shaken by Pietism and broken by rationalism, thoughts of union, hitherto confined to individuals, gained wide currency. Pietism, laying all its stress on intensity of piety, personal experience, and Christian life, saw too clearly the virtues of other denominations and the faults of its own to have sympathy with denominational distinctions. Rationalism, as opposed both to orthodoxy and to Pietism, which were at one in their adherence to revelation, denied that religion was specifially Christian and was, therefore, indifferent to sectarianism. At the same time, the rationalists, when they advocated union, aimed at the furtherance of toleration and the consequent development of Christianity into a universal religion. Here began the revival of Biblical Christianity in
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In Prussia, meanwhile, efforts were being made, after 1814, to reorganize the church, and in 1817 and the following years a synodo-presbyterian system was actually introduced, but soon proved impracticable. The king was, according4. Develop- ly, obliged to take matters into his own meat in hands in greater measure than he had Prussia. originally planned. Under the conditions then prevailing, the realization of union was almost entirely restricted to the lit urgy, especially as, from the very first, the acceptance of a common communion service was held to imply the acceptance of union. Hitherto, during the rationalistic period, caprice had been dominant in the liturgy, but Frederick William, filled with affection for time-honored usages and realizing the advantages of orderly worship, now urged the ne cessity of a new liturgy for the Prussian church. Himself a fervent admirer of Luther, the liturgy was modeled essentially on Lutheran lines; and the king felt that; though unable and unwilling to force union, he could yet, in virtue of his ecclesiastical power, command the acceptance of a new liturgy. But the results were most unsatisfactory -too Lutheran for the Reformed, and suspiciously non-Lutheran for the Lutherans. Even Reformed presbyteries eager .for union refused this liturgy; and opposition to the ritual led to opposition to union itself, and then to separation of a portion of the Prussian Lutherans from the united national church. Such a spirit of resistance to the new lit urgy would not have arisen had there not been a momentous change in religious convictions. The power of rationalism, with its religious indifference, had been broken, and a return to the teachings of the Church was everywhere perceptible. As a con sequence, various tendencies arose which construed the nature and purpose of union in very different ways. Some valued union as abrogating sectarianism; others, as representing the common elements of Protestant teachings; others still, as denying neither the validity of Lutheran doctrines in churches historically Lutheran, nor of Reformed teachings in analogous Reformed bodies. The change here indicated is reflected in official utter ances respecting union. In 1817 union meant the
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The men,who proposed and the churches that accepted union committed no wrong, injustice first beginning when those of different convictions were prevented from acting accordingly.
g. Present But the problem becomes more diffiSituation. cult when the right or wrong of Protestant union is considered. This has been a moot question for over three centuries, and it is more than probable that it will never definitely be answered, for its solution depends not on objective facts, but on judgment concerning the value of unity and definiteness of the Church's teaching and on the uniformity of ecclesiastical ordinances. This judgment necessarily varies according to the individual, and absolute uniformity of thought and conduct is impossible, however great the general consensus of opinion may be. Both the advocates and the opponents of union had a certain degree of justification, and the fact that , the opponents of the movement prevailed in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries was due to the conditions of the time. Though at the present there is little likelihood that union in Germany will extend beyond its present limits, the advocates of union seem to be in the ascendency. No national church denominationally Lutheran can maintain a hostile attitude toward the Reformed, and in almost every church the Reformed are admitted to the Lord's Supper as guests, the few exceptions being due to the objections of the pastors rather than of the congregations. Extended association with members of other denominations has tended to lessen sectarian distinctions by revealing the many points of mutual belief, and progress in theological thought has led to a complete transformation of the sectarian spirit prevailing in the sixteenth century. In proportion, therefore, as the points of agreement between the Lutherans and the Reformed have gained general recognition, decreasing stress has been laid on the points of divergency. Nevertheless, the dis tinctive tenets of the two bodies, which are more than eucharistic divergencies, still remain. Union has obviously failed to remove them, and, in the present condition of affairs, they seem destined to remain permanently.
Bibliography: K. I. NItZBCh, Urkundenbuch der evangelischen Union,. Bonn, 1853; J. G. Scheibel, Aktenm&saige Geschichte der neuesten Unternehmung einer Union, Leipsic, 1834; idem, Mitteilungen über die neuesle Geschichte der lutherischen Kirche, ib. 1835-36; K. W. Hering, Geschichte der kirchlichen Unionsversuche, 2 parts, ib. 1836-1838; A. G. Rudelbaeh, Reformation, Lutherthum and Union, ib. 1839; R. F. Eylert, Clzarakterziige aus dem Leben Friedrich Wilhelm III., part iii., Magdeburg, 1848; J. 14fiiller, Die evangelisclae Union, ihr Weaen and goltliches Recht, Berlin, 1854; F. J. Stahl, Die lutherische Kirche und die Union, ib. 1859; T. Wangemann, Sieben Bücher preussischen Kirchengeschichte, ib. 1859-fi0; idem, Die preussische Union in ihrem Verhaltnia zur Una sancta, ib. 1884; idem, Die kirchliche Kabinelspolilik Friedrich Wilhelms III., ib. 1884; K. H. Sack, Die evangelische Kirche und die Union, Bremen, 1861; F. Brandes. Geschichte der kirchlichen Politik- des Hawes Brandenburg, Gotha, 1872; C. O. Firnhaber, Die evangelische kirclzliche Union in Nassau, Wiesbaden, 1895; E. FSrster, Die Entatehung der preussischen Landeakirche, 2 vols., Tübingen, 1905-07.
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