# Der Lutheraner_St. Louis Missouri_1850 10 29_S38
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38

P. Isensee reports that he has given up his mixed congregation, but that, at the express wish of the Lutheran members, he still preaches for the present to the greater part of this congregation.

The Secretary reports that he has laid down his office in the Evang. Zion's congregation in Cincinnati, because the congregation refused to take a purely Lutheran position.

P. Dr. Hunger reports by letter that he has left the congregation which he had hitherto served for the reason that it wished to introduce the annual hiring or engaging of the preacher, and that he has now provisionally accepted the Lutheran congregation on Bear Creek, formerly served by P. Meißner.

P. Meißner reports that he had to leave his hitherto Lutheran congregation on the ground that the same, in spite of his continued instruction concerning it, adopted a new constitution which, besides the article contrary to Scripture on the annual engaging of the preacher, contains other articles contradicting the Word of God, and that the congregation has thereby ceased to be a Lutheran one.

Session closed with prayer by P. Mayer.

IV. Session,

the 6th of September, afternoon.

Opened with prayer by Cand. John.

Upon the report of Committee No. 4, the following report of the Mission Board was presented.

Home Mission.

a. Although the undersigned Mission Committee wishes from the heart that relief might be brought to the wretched condition of our German Lutherans living scattered in the State of Indiana, yet it has up to this day little to report of its activity toward relieving the need. True, it was charged by last year's synodical resolution to appoint a missionary preacher and to assign him his field of labor, yet circumstances that have arisen have until now left this resolution unexecuted. For the co-undersigned P. Wichmann requested the Committee to assist him in the founding of a new, purely Lutheran congregation in Cincinnati, and, mindful of the importance of this undertaking for our Church, the Committee resolved to assign to him the $ 39. 45. of mission funds in the treasury, on condition that he repay the same on the day of the session of the Synod. The Committee believes that in this it has acted wholly in the mind of the Synod, but submits this its mode of procedure to the Synod for examination and judgment. Since in the course of the past year no new mission funds had flowed into the treasury, and P. Wichmann also had not received the money collected from his former congregation, the Committee had to abandon its plan of appointing and supporting a missionary preacher.

ny preachers calling themselves Lutheran. Here the preacher must be either Lutheran to the Lutherans and Reformed to the Reformed, that is, he must accept the doctrine of the Reformed and that of the Lutheran Church and teach both parties according to the confession of their church, or else keep silent about the important doctrines which the two churches hold against one another and let the congregations believe concerning them what they will. An upright and honest servant of the Luth. Church, however, cannot possibly do this. He regards the doctrines of the Word of God as the legacy of his Lord, which he is to keep and from which he is neither to take away nor to add thereto. Accordingly he will, for example, teach the doctrine of the sacraments and of the person of Christ according to the confession of his Church, as it is contained in the small Luth. Catechism, and reject that of the Heidelberg Catechism, as the confession of the Reformed Church, as false doctrine. He will further not, like the Unierte, keep silent about doctrines, but, after the example of the Apostle Paul (Acts 20, 20), keep back nothing from his own.

Since, then, the serving of mixed congregations as such is a contradiction to the confession of the Luth. Church, the Synod has adopted the above resolution, which, moreover, was adopted long since by the orthodox Synod of Missouri, as appears from its Constitution.

Th. W.

b. A visiting tour has been undertaken by P. Meißner. On Trinity Sunday he visited Cand. Jungck in Spencer Co., 9 miles from Troy, took part in the dedication of the Trinity Church of the Lutheran congregation of the same, preached Monday evening in Huntingburg, organized with Cand. Jungck a new Lutheran congregation in Rome near Perry Co., which is served by the latter, and preached on the Monday after the 1st Sunday after Trinity at Haysville, Dubois Co., Ind.

c. P. Wichmann visited on the 6th Sunday after Trinity a German settlement, Weißeichen, Hamilton Co., O., preached there, and exhorted the people to set up the holy ministry among themselves, since they are in a position to support a preacher. This place the Committee recommends to the special attention of the Synod, and proposes to send a missionary thither, who may make an attempt to gather the Lutherans living scattered into a congregation.

O. Hunger. Meißner. Th. Wichmann.

This report was handed to a Committee, consisting of P. Brand, Lasar and Jungck, for report.

Upon the Committee report No. 2 it was resolved:

2. Henceforth no candidate's license shall be granted by us any more, and indeed for this reason, that we recognize it as altogether contrary to apostolic order and to the practice of our Church.

3. The Pastors Dr. O. Hunger, J. J. Meißner and Th. Wichmann form the Examining and Ordination Committee for the current year 1850-51.

4. The examination of the applicants shall take place in writing and orally. In writing: a sermon on an assigned text, an elaboration. Orally: Biblical history, exegesis, dogmatics, symbolics, church history, practical theology, catechetics.

Committee No. 1 had also been handed a document, which reports upon it as follows:

The document handed to us is the proceedings of the 10th session of the eastern district of the Evang. Luther. Synod of Ohio of the 30th of August. "On page 20 of these proceedings P. W. Wier, a member of our Synod, is accused of having seduced the wife of P. Braasch to leave her husband P. B., a member of that Synod, and it is declared, "that Braasch is not to blame that his wife has separated from him."

The Committee is fully convinced that P. Wier has been slandered.

1. The accompanying testimony of P. Meißner says that, according to the own statement of Mrs. Braasch, the bad treatment by her husband was the cause of the separation.

2. P. Wier justifies himself before the Synod by a letter in which he says that he took Mrs. Braasch with him into the country only at her request.

3. The letter addressed to the Synod by 7 members of the Lutheran Zion's congregation of Cand. John, in which Mrs. Braasch stayed, says: According to the own statement of Mrs. Braasch it was not P. Wier, but the intolerable maltreatment by P. Braasch alone that was the cause of the separation of the Braasch couple.

Accordingly the Committee moves that P. Wier be acquitted of this accusation.

This report was adopted and it was resolved:

1. The Synod acquits P. Wier of this accusation on the above grounds and charges

2. the Secretary to send forthwith the Committee report with enclosures and this synodical resolution to the eastern District Synod of Ohio.

Session closed with prayer by K. Polack.

V. Session,

the 7th of September, forenoon.

Opened with prayer by Dep. Bohrer.

Committee No. 1 reports further concerning P. W. Wier.

According to the report of the President, P. Wier has left his congregations in Dearborn Co. and now proclaims the Word of God in Rochester, N. Y. The Committee regrets that no reason is given why P. Wier left his congregations, and that it is not stated under what circumstances, and upon what churchly ground P. Wier stands there; whether he has accepted an Evang. Luther. congregation there, or is about to gather one. Your Committee lays this matter before the Synod for deliberation and judgment.

The report was adopted. After it had been discussed at length concerning this step of P. Wier, the Secretary made the following motion:

that, because P. Wier left his Lutheran Zion's congregation in Ind. without valid reason, and because the same, as appears from No. 23, 50, of the freien deutschen Katholiken, is missionary of that fellowship and agent of that paper, he is to be excluded from the fellowship of our Synod.

This motion was rejected by majority vote and the following motion was made:

because we are not yet in a fully clear light concerning the real position of P. Wier, and we hold it wrong to exclude him merely on the ground that he is supported by the Protestant society and circulates the freien deutschen Katholiken, we however not yet properly knowing the real character of that paper, he however being about to found a congregation upon the confession of the Lutheran Church and using the Luther. Catechism, we therefore propose that the President be charged to obtain information concerning the real true position of P. Wier and the tendency of that paper