# Der Lutheraner_St. Louis Missouri_1854 01 31_S93
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

93

D. Kahnis gave expression to it by calling for the singing of the verse, "Praise, honor and glory be to God, etc.," which was then done by the full chorus.

According to the program the order of the day would now have been finished; but there were still the questions of the Synod at Buffalo, mentioned above, to be answered. At the wish of the preliminary conference held the evening before, Münchmeyer had taken over the report on this matter and spoke approximately as follows by way of introduction: In North America a lamentable dispute has broken out between the two Lutheran synods, the Buffalo Synod and the Missouri Synod. The occasion for it was the ban, exercised by the Synod at Buffalo according to the Word of God and its church order (the old Pomeranian and the old Saxon), whereupon the Synod of Missouri, so it is said, received the parties (factions) that had in this manner fallen away, and provided them with preachers, without having asked their former ecclesiastical authority, the Synod at Buffalo, about it. In this way the ecclesiastical unity among them has been completely destroyed, and if the Synod at Buffalo had followed the same procedure, the most dreadful Babel would have arisen from it.*) The Buffalo brethren now wish that the dispute thus arisen be settled again, and they request in general the good counsel of the assembly. We do not set ourselves up now, the speaker continued, as judges over the Missouri Synod, since for a thorough discussion the presence of the other party would indeed be necessary; yet since our brethren think that through the answering of the three questions laid before us they can be helped in their sorrowful dispute, the conference cannot refrain from complying with them. They proceeded at once to the answering of the first question laid before them: Whether an orderly executed, but unjust ban in a Lutheran local or territorial church makes the church false? The preliminary conference had answered this question with a decided No, according to the principle already established at earlier conferences: that a church authority otherwise rightfully existing does not thereby become a false one, to be rejected, even if it has once permitted itself an unlawful act. One must here distinguish between false doctrine and an inappropriate practice; the latter does not overthrow the church. They wished now to speak in general about the dispute of the two synods, but Sup. Münchmeyer prevented this, because it would lead too far; also, this had already been done in the preliminary meeting. He likewise remarked besides: the brethren from America had laid everything before them and were ready to communicate the documents to anyone who might wish it. (For this purpose they had brought the following writings, which they afterwards had distributed gratis in considerable numbers: 1) Getreue Vorstellung unserer kirchlichen Lage an alle lutherische Schwesterkirchen Europas, gethan von der deutschen evangelisch-lutherischen Synode von Buffalo, N. Y. 2) Sag's der Kirche! oder offene Anzeige der evang. lutherischen Synode von Buffalo, N. Y., an alle lutherische Kirchen, und ehrerbietige Bitte an alle ihre gläubigen Konsistorien, Synoden und theologischen Fakultäten, daß Sie "die evang.-luth. Synode von Missouri mit uns ermahnen wollen, von ihrer öffentlichen Versündigung gegen uns abzustehen." 3) Vierter Synodal-Brief von der Synode der aus Preußen ausgewanderten lutherischen Kirche, versammelt zu Buffalo, N. Y., im Mai und Juni 1853. Nebst verschiedenen Beilagen. 4) Kirchliches Informatorium. Ein geistliches Lehrblatt für alle Christen. Jahrg. 2, Nr. 16). Further: they had not appeared here merely to have justice pronounced for them, but also to let themselves be punished, which had also happened yesterday and had been accepted by them. Dr. Kahnis thereupon declared that for his part he agreed with the preliminary conference and must with it answer the first question in the negative: A single false practice does not make the church false. Prof. D. Hölemann spoke likewise, yet with the addition: "if it confesses the wrong and makes it good again." So also P. Ahlfeld, who said: "as soon as the church wishes to make its wrong into right, it is no longer a rightful church." Sup. Münchmeyer, however, called attention to the fact that the case was also conceivable: that the matter was not fully settled; that it could not be proved that it was in the wrong, or at least it could not convince itself that it had acted falsely. Thereupon he proposed to make this addition to the answer submitted: "yet it is obligated to desist from its wrong." This found approval; and so the assembly declared that it agreed with the negative answer given by the preliminary conference. They then passed to the second question: Whether, in an arising or continuing doctrinal controversy (as, for example, over Ministry and Church) between two Lutheran synods, each of them has a right to receive and to absolve forthwith, and so long until the doctrinal controversy is once ended, the sinners excommunicated in the order of Christ by the other? Sup. Münchmeyer gave the following explanation of this: When between two synods a difference is found over certain points of doctrine, concerning which neither God's Word(?) nor the Confessions of our Church(?) have given a definite decision, whether then both have the right to receive forthwith the members excluded by the other synod, because it is in a difference of doctrine with the latter. To this too the preliminary conference had had to answer decidedly with No. Since this question was framed quite generally, and since all church parties must agree that there are certain cases where the ban is necessary, it was held that this question also could not be answered otherwise than the preliminary conference had already done. D. Philippi goes still further and says: Even if some sect excommunicates one of its members and this member applies to the orthodox church for admission, the orthodox church itself must inquire of the sect: "why have you excommunicated him?" Prof. D. Kahnis moved that the words, "and to absolve," be struck out, to which the framers of the theses also consented. Sup. Münchmeyer proposed further that instead of "forthwith" the words be put: "without further ado," and that the words, "until the doctrinal controversy is ended," be omitted. With this too the framers of the theses were satisfied, and so they now proceeded to a vote on the question thus altered. By an almost general rising they signified their assent to the negative answer of the preliminary conference on the question thus modified. The third question ran thus: Whether in the said doctrinal controversy the one synod has the right to erect counter-altars in the congregations and parishes of the other? The expression "counter-altars" was explained to mean the founding of a new congregation in the midst of another. Since this is only a consequence of what was denied in the foregoing question, the preliminary conference had answered this question also in the negative. Sup. Münchmeyer remarked: Think of the Office what one will, this may not be permitted, when another breaks into a congregation and says: I am making myself a congregation here. Past. Wolf wished that this question not only be denied with the preliminary conference, but that at the same time they also express their abhorrence of such a procedure. After the latter had been rejected, however, the vote followed on this question, which showed a decided majority for the negative answer of the preliminary conference.

*) It goes without saying that judgment is here passed by the conference according to what was communicated to it. The future will teach how the members of the conference will judge when they have also heard the other party. The Editors of the Lutheraner.

Thereupon the reporter, Sup. Münchmeyer, spoke approximately further as follows to the conference: We have not yet fulfilled our duty with having answered the questions put to us with so bare and frosty a No. It is a holy matter that is here concerned: We must beseech the Lord, who is the true Prince of Peace, that He would make peace. Likewise, however, we also ought to do what we can to lead toward it. It might perhaps be salutary if our conference were to admonish and entreat the two synods heartily, each on its side to confess and put away their sins, so that an end might be made to this dreadful scandal. To this they agreed, and for the drafting of this letter of admonition they chose three members of the conference: Sup. Münchmeyer, Pastor Besser and Prof. D. Kahnis, who also undertook it, yet wished first to communicate with the members of the directorate about it. From