# Lehre und Wehre_St. Louis Missouri_October 1855_S304
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

304 Kingdom of Saxony.

-ration, and adds with satisfaction that it gives it unanimously: The confession of our Church is grounded on Holy Scripture and set forth in the unaltered Augsburg Confession and the remaining symbolical books of the Lutheran Church. Thus in Scripture alone, and in these confessional writings alone, must the Ministry seek its norm and rule; and when it holds faithfully to these, it is only fulfilling the duty laid upon it by its oath of religion. The confessors of the Lutheran Church accordingly have a well-founded right to demand that the Ministry meet this duty at all times, and hold to the confession of the Church all the more firmly, since upon it depends the constitutional standing of this Church within the states of the German Confederation. In the deputation's view, then, a faithful adherence to the confession can give rise neither to misgivings nor to reproach."

This exceedingly important declaration met with no contradiction whatsoever in the Chamber, but did call forth a series of excellent testimonies and confessions. First, Mayor Starke of Bautzen took the floor and spoke, among other things, as follows:

"Among the censures, if I may call them that, and the reproaches raised from various quarters, one stands out above all others: that it is to be lamented that the high Ministry of Worship, as guardian of the Evangelical Church, has not shown the same zeal in regard to progress in the religious sphere that it has proven in other respects, namely with regard to progress in the sphere of science, and for which the Ministry and the state government have so far spared no sacrifice. If it is accordingly wished that, on the part of the state government and the high Ministry of Worship, a more liberal understanding of the doctrine of faith and the symbol of the Evangelical Lutheran Church should not be obstructed, and that in this respect more forward than backward steps should be taken, then the scope of such a wish is so great that, for my own part, I find it questionable to speak in favor of such a motion. I can rather only cherish the heartfelt wish that the high state government and the high Ministry of Worship give no hearing whatsoever to demands and wishes of that kind. I do not at all wish to deny that progress is also possible in the ecclesiastical sphere, but certainly only insofar as it concerns a more expedient arrangement of worship, of the liturgy, or the administration of office and the standing of the clergy and servants of the Church. I can likewise grant that one may speak of progress in a religious respect, if by this is understood an ever deeper, more living, more blessed penetration into the mysteries of Christian doctrine, an ever more thorough appropriation of the Church's proclamations of salvation. But if what is meant thereby is a perfectibility of the doctrine itself, then I can in no way subscribe to such a view. This doctrine stands in its absolute perfec-