avowed by the Constitution of the General Synod, each District Synod is
competent to do this work for herself as long as she retains "the
_fundamental_ doctrines of the Bible as taught by our church."

How then can this important work be best accomplished, of releasing
ourselves on the one hand from the profession of the errors contained
in the Confession, and on the other of avowing the unadulterated truths
of God's word?

1. Shall we _drop the practice of binding our ministers to any creed
except the Bible_, and refer in unofficial ways to the _Augsburg
Confession_, as in general a correct summary of our views of Bible
truth? This was the practice of the _fathers of our church in the Synod
of Pennsylvania from the beginning of this century, till within two or
three years_. It was practiced by that body whilst it was controlled by
_Drs. Helmuth, Schmidt, Muhlenberg_, of Lancaster, _Schaeffer_, of
Philadelphia, _Endress, Lochman, J. G. Schmucker, Geissenhainer_
subsequently of New York, _Muhlenberg_, of Reading, and the present
venerable Senior of the Ministerium, Rev. _Baetis_. This plan we always
regarded as too lax, and preferred the distinct avowal of the Augsburg
Confession as to the fundamental doctrines of the Bible, and were
ourselves instrumental in introducing its qualified recognition into
the General Synod's Theological Seminary in 1825, and her Constitution
for District Synods in 1829. Still we have recently been denounced as
unfaithful to the confession, by those unacquainted with the history of
our church during the last five and thirty years.

2. Shall we _adopt a new creed_, to supercede [sic] the venerable
Augsburg Confession? This is unnecessary, because the points regarded as
erroneous in it, are confessedly few and non-essential. When these are