# Der Lutheraner_St. Louis Missouri_1850 03 05_S105
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

Der Lutheraner.

"God's Word and Luther's doctrine shall pass away never and nevermore."

Published by the German Evangelical Lutheran Synod of Missouri, Ohio and other States.

Edited by C. F. W. Walther.

Volume 6.  St. Louis, Mo., March 5, 1850.  No. 14.

Terms: Der Lutheraner appears once every two weeks at the yearly subscription price of One Dollar for subscribers living at a distance, who are to pay it in advance and bear the postage. — In St. Louis each single number is sold for 5 Cents.
Only those letters which contain communications for the paper are to be sent to the Editor; all others, which contain business matters, orders, cancellations, money, etc., are to be sent hither under the address: Mr. F. W. Barthel, care of C. F. W. Walther, St. Louis, Mo.

Congregational Constitution for the German Evangelical Lutheran Congregation of the Unaltered Augsburg Confession in St. Louis, Mo., 1843.*)

*) We communicate these few paragraphs of our local congregational constitution, having been repeatedly requested to do so by several brethren. The Editor.

§ 1.

Since according to God's Word (1 Cor. 14:40; Col. 2:5) everything in every Christian congregation is to be done decently and in order, and our fathers have accordingly gone before us by drawing up Christian church orders; therefore we, a number of German Lutherans dwelling in this city and its surroundings, have united ourselves to form together one parish, and we hereby set down, in this document signed by us by name, the constitution under which we stand in one congregational union and by which we determine the administration of the internal and external affairs of our community.

§ 2.

Our church and congregation shall bear the name: The Trinity Church of the German Evangelical Lutheran Congregation of the Unaltered Augsburg Confession at St. Louis, Mo.

§ 3.

In our congregation all the canonical books of the Old and New Testaments are acknowledged as God's revealed Word, and all the symbolical books of the Evangelical Lutheran Church as the form and norm drawn from the Word of God, according to which, because they are taken from God's Word, not only shall doctrine in our congregation be conducted and tested, but also all occurring controversies concerning doctrine and religion shall be judged and settled. These are: the three chief symbols, the Unaltered Augsburg Confession, its Apology, the Smalcald Articles, Dr. Luther's Small and Large Catechism, the Formula of Concord, and the Visitation Articles.

Therefore

§ 4.

no one can be or become a member, still less an officer, of this congregation, nor have a share in the rights of a member of the congregation, unless he:

a) is baptized;

b) confesses all the canonical books of the Old and New Testaments as the sole divine rule and standard of faith and life, and

c) in case of any lack of knowledge of all the aforesaid symbolical books, at the very least knows the Augsburg Confession and Luther's Small Catechism, and confesses them;

d) does not live in the manifest works of the flesh (Gal. 5:19-21), but leads a Christian walk;

e) partakes of the Holy Supper often, if he is among the adults;

f) submits himself to the orders which have been jointly established, and which may yet be established, so far as they are not contrary to the Word of God, and lets himself be admonished in brotherly love where he has erred.

§ 5.

Only those male members of the congregation have a vote who have completed the twenty-first year of their age and have signed the Constitution, and only those are eligible to office who have completed the twenty-fifth year of their age and have already been members of the congregation one year.

§ 6.

Every member of the congregation is obliged, according to his ability,

a) to the maintenance of school and church,

b) to the discharge of all the debts of the congregation

to contribute proportionately.

c) If anyone for three months has given no contribution to the common treasury, and has not excused himself on account of poverty, the Elder is under obligation to admonish him in a brotherly manner.

§ 7.

If a member of the congregation, after fruitless application of the steps of admonition prescribed in God's Word (Matt. 18:15-20), where these are possible, is excluded from the congregation, he thereby forfeits all rights of a member of the congregation and any claim to the possessions of the congregation as such, so long as he has not been received again into the congregation.

The same holds also for those members of the congregation who voluntarily withdraw from the congregational union, or effect this withdrawal by their removal from the place, if they thereby dissolve their connection with the congregation.

§ 8.

The pastoral office in the congregation can be entrusted only to such a preacher as confesses all the canonical books of the Old and New Testaments as God's revealed Word, and all the symbolical books of the Evangelical Lutheran Church derived therefrom, mentioned in § 3; whereupon he, as well as the schoolteacher, is pledged at his call.

§ 9.

The congregation in its entirety has the supreme authority in the external and internal administration of all churchly and congregational affairs; no ordinance or decision for the congregation, or for a member of the congregation as such, has validity, whether it proceeds from an individual or from a body in the congregation, unless it is done in the name and according to a general or special authority given by the congregation; and what is ordained and decided in the name and according to an authority given by the congregation, by individuals or smaller bodies, can at any time be brought to the congregation, as to the highest court, for final decision. Yet the congregation also has no right to do anything contrary to God's Word and the symbols of the pure Evangelical Lutheran Church