# LCMS Convention Proceedings_St. Louis Missouri_1849_S96
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

— 96 —

own good and that of the church, to avert harm from the church. 3. that
he be tested by the already-existing faithful servants of the church, that
his testimonials concerning the instruction he received and his conduct
be carefully examined, and that his conduct also be observed for a time,
during which he may be given lesser offices in the church, such as
leading the singing, reading aloud, etc. 4. that he be admitted to church
service by the already-existing church officers. 5. that, per Art. 6, he be
brought before the already-existing church officers, who must once more
examine him in the presence of the congregation — not in order to test
his understanding, but so that the congregation may hear what confession
he makes, and that he is no novice. 6. that the already-existing church
officers lay hands on him, that is, ordain him, as is customary according
to the church's Agenda, and commit the church office to him in the name
of the triune God, just as the Lord Christ himself ordained his disciples
in Matt. 28 and Luke 24. 7. that he be installed — that is, invested or
confirmed — before the congregation in which he is to serve publicly, in
which act he pledges his faithfulness to the congregation and the
congregation binds itself to him with faithfulness and obedience in all
things that are not against God's Word. Here Pastor Grabau adds the
remark: what is and is not against God's Word is decided not by any
single member of the church, but by the church itself in its confessions
and church orders. This, he says, is the divine order of the *rite
vocatus* [duly called], which Dr. Luther says the apostles and their
disciples observed, and which must remain so until the Last Day.

Chapter II of the pastoral letter deals with the great necessity of the
right call, in which Pastor Grabau [*sic*, printed "Graubau"] asserts,
among other things, that the words of institution are effective on
account of the office to which the Lord commits himself; for in the
office lies Christ's testimony, his once-made institution, wishing to
realize and deliver absolution and the sacraments on earth again and
again through the word used with them. Pastor Grabau writes, appealing
to the apostolic expression "the cup of blessing which we bless": "We
are therefore convinced that a man arbitrarily put forward by the
congregation can give neither absolution nor distribute the body and
blood of Christ, but gives mere bread and wine, for Christ commits
himself to his own divine, unalterable order, not to our arbitrariness
and disorder. At a sickbed or deathbed, where no church officer is
present, any head of household may administer it even without office or
Agenda."

In Chapter III Pastor Grabau asserts: if a single congregation, on its
own authority, arbitrarily singles out and puts forward from its midst an
unlearned, untested, and unprepared man for the public church office by
the mere force of a majority vote, this has not the slightest validity
before God, but is mere disorder. Pastor Grabau calls the one whom the
congregation puts forward in this way "uncalled." He advises that
children, if they are healthy, be left unbaptized until the arrival of a
church officer, and likewise that the contracting of marriages, so far as
possible, be postponed with God's help until then, or that the church
wedding at least be made up afterward. Everything contrary to the old
Lutheran church orders must be regarded as an innovation and not
introduced with respect to the administration of the office by elders and
schoolmasters. When the pastor falls into errors of doctrine, the
congregation should not yet pronounce judgment, but the judgment in
doctrine