# LCMS Convention Proceedings_St. Louis Missouri_1852_S219
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

— 219 —

...congregation that has a faithful pastor, in such a way that they are
nevertheless visited by him now and then and served with Word and
Sacrament, but in the meantime conduct themselves so that on Sundays
they edify themselves from a good book of sermons and do not attend the
services of the false believers and fanatics.

In general, he is to give our fellow believers all good counsel in the
spirit of the Evangelical Lutheran Church — for instance, how to set up
family devotions [*Hausgottesdienst*], how to carry out the instruction
of children, and how to perform emergency baptism.

§ 3. His field of labor comprises the western states, to which the
stream of German immigration chiefly flows; in particular he is to
direct his attention to Wisconsin, northwestern Illinois, and Iowa.

§ 4. He is from time to time to report to the *Präses* of the Synod on
the success of his work, and also to communicate in summary the most
important of his other experiences regarding the ecclesiastical
conditions of the regions he has visited.

§ 5. He is to render account to the Synod, both regarding the sale of
books and tracts and regarding his travel expenses.

Public Free Prayer.

1.

A small congregation in Town Granville near Milwaukee, which had
previously been unable to reach agreement with Pastor Lochner over the
public free prayer of laymen, but which has now come to an understanding
with him through the mediation of Pastor Fürbringer and has since called
Pastor Dulitz as its pastor, expresses the wish to join the Synod,
provided that something be first cleared out of the way that stands
against this joining. They state that in the previous year they had
addressed a petition on that matter of prayer to the Synod, but that
their document had been labeled a libel [*Schmähschrift*] by the
reporting officer, Prof. Crämer, and had been laid on the table with
Prof. Walther's remark that "writings of that sort might be delivered to
the Synod by another cart, perhaps by the 'Friend of Lies'" [*der
Lügenfreund* — apparently a satirical or disreputable periodical]. — They
call this proceeding un-Christian and unbecoming, seek to justify their
earlier petition, declare themselves ready to retract it if it is proven
to them that their document truly was a libel, but demand the same from
the Synod in the opposite case. — Although, according to the committee's
report, that letter did not faithfully represent the negotiations with
Pastor Lochner, distorted the Synod's official statement on prayer, and
judged the *Lutheraner* [the Synod's periodical] presumptuously and
mockingly, still a malicious, willful disposition cannot be proven with
certainty from this letter; therefore the petitioners are to be told
orally by the neighboring pastors, and it is attested here in this
report, that the opinion once given on the matter of prayer stands as
is; that by twisting that opinion they gave grounds for the suspicion
that they were more concerned with lecturing than with learning; but
that the Synod, in view of their present assurance of their honest
intent, does not wish to insist that their petition be called a libel.