many centuries. Hence it is not surprising when Romanism creeps back
into nominally Protestant churches. It behooves us, therefore, to be on
our guard and to purge out the old leaven. And the opposite tendency
which undervalues the visible church, must also be corrected by a
Scriptural doctrine of the ordinances.

The practice of our churches is a resultant mainly of three forces:

1. Doctrine, defined in the Confessions, modified by Melanchthon's
later writings and by the dogmaticians of the 17th century, considerably
influenced also by Spener and the Pietists, while not a little has come
to us from the Rationalistic period.

2. Tradition, from the civil and social arrangements of the national
churches from which we are descended, inherited through generations of
our predecessors in this country. We follow in the old ruts, and "the
way we have always been doing" puts an end to controversy.

3. Environment. Consciously or unconsciously we are influenced by the
practice of neighboring denominations.

The object of this chapter is to ascertain the historic principles of
the Lutheran Church in regard to church membership, to test their
validity by Scriptures and to apply them to present conditions.

The Church is primarily the communion of saints. Thus in the Small
Catechism: "even as He (the Holy Ghost) ... sanctifies the whole
Christian Church on earth." In the Large Catechism the same thought,
that the Church is the product of the Holy Ghost, is expressed in ample
terms. Rome's doctrine of the Church, as essentially an external