# LCMS Convention Proceedings_St. Louis Missouri_1848_S60
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

...Bürger and rejoin his congregation is not evident from the letter; whether
they rightly claim for themselves the name of the Evangelical-Lutheran
congregation there seems to us, under the present circumstances, very
doubtful. As for Pastor Bürger himself, finally, we do not know whether he
has recently become guilty of anything; but if matters still stand as they
stood according to our report of last year, then it is at least certain that
the senders wrongly call him a sectarian preacher [Winkelprediger].

In the second submission, C. Faude and his fellow travelers speak very
bitterly and provocatively about a private letter that Pastor Walther wrote
to Pastor Bürger, and which the latter is said to have read aloud in his
congregation at Buffalo.

Since, now, according to Chapter V, § 13 of our constitution, the synod
may be approached to settle existing disputes only in such cases where "the
rules of Christian love and order are not bypassed or violated" — while in
the letter submitted, the order set by our Lord Christ in Matt. 18:15–17 is
plainly bypassed, according to which the senders ought first to have
turned to Pastor Walther himself regarding that letter — the synod
declared that it had absolutely no business involving itself in that private
dispute, and that it would henceforth no longer receive or entertain such
scurrilous communications.

Complaint against Romanowsky.

Since, following earlier difficulties between Pastor Romanowsky and his
congregations at Pomeroy and Chester Township, Meigs Co., Ohio, that
had been settled by Pastor Dr. Sihler, new complaints against him were
brought before the synod through the delegate A. Joachim, and since
Pastor Romanowsky, without having or giving any excuse, had not
appeared in person at the synodical convention, and it was to be feared
that the matter could hardly be resolved by correspondence, the synod
found itself compelled to appoint a commission that should, after the
close of the synodical convention, travel to Pomeroy in order to
investigate on the spot the points of complaint brought against Pastor
Romanowsky and, should the facts alleged prove correct, to admonish him
to confess his sin before the congregation, ask its forgiveness, and vow
thorough amendment — but, should this not follow, to give the synod's
consent that the congregation dismiss him without further ado. (Pastor
Romanowsky later resigned in the presence of the commission.)

The Lutheraner.

The synod adopted the motion of a delegate, made on behalf of several
members of his congregation, that the "Lutheraner," as the synod's organ,
should at all times accept written submissions without difficulty —
especially testimonies of the old Lutheran teachers — for the free
discussion and illumination of whatever church and congregational
questions may arise; unless the editor can justify to the synod, by proof,
that publishing a given submission would not have served the good of the
church, in which case he may decline it.