# LCMS Convention Proceedings_St. Louis Missouri_1857_S319
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

— 319 —

Lord has torn these dear brothers so early from our midst, at a time of
such great want of workers, is not for us to ask; rather, laying our hand
upon our mouth, and humbly bowing beneath the wise, loving counsel of his
will, let us instead call upon him, in true humility of heart, that
through such blows of love he may lead us to right repentance, that we may
recognize with heartfelt sorrow our lukewarmness and our ingratitude
toward the heavenly gift of his pure, precious Gospel, and, by his grace,
amend ourselves. May the congregations, for their part, remember with
heartfelt and active mercy the poor widows and orphans of the departed.
What increases our sorrow still further, and fills us with no small
concern for the future, is the necessity in which four dear brothers have,
through their broken health, found themselves placed, of laying down
their office.

According to the Reverend Synod's charge, the president should, during
his three-year term of office, visit every parish of all the synodical
districts at least once. Unfortunately I have not been able to comply with
this provision; of the 140 preachers and 30 schoolteachers whom our Synod
comprises, I have, I regret, been unable to visit 35 preachers and two
schoolteachers officially. It pleased the Lord to lay me low upon a severe
sickbed in the summer of the first year, from which I had scarcely
recovered somewhat by the following spring when a new mishap befell me,
which again left me unable to act for six weeks. I would, however, at the
same time, for the benefit of my eventual successor in office, express my
conviction that it might be almost too hard, if not impossible, for a man
of ordinary bodily and mental constitution to carry out such a task,
particularly since visits to the district synods, or to already-inspected
congregations that for some reason require his presence, falling in
between, often interrupt the ongoing travel route he had set for himself,
and so require a double expenditure of time and strength.

Toward my beloved brothers in office I can, with heartfelt thanks
toward the Lord, in general give only this testimony: that although their
strength and gifts may not be equal, they carry their congregations upon
their hearts with true pastoral love and faithfulness, are, through
teaching and defending, admonition and warning, counsel and comfort, amid
great patience and self-denial, under hard labor and often oppressive
troubles and privations, guides on the way of eternal life, and, as befits
shepherds, walk before them in blamelessness of life. And, God be praised,
I have not found a single one who, in view of the importance and heavy
responsibility of his office, did not, despite his faithfulness, recognize
before God his own insufficiency, and therefore carry out his office in
true humility and with the deepest sense of his dependence on the giver of
all good gifts, in fear and trembling, though at the same time with a
believing look up to the Lord of the church. Unfortunately, God knows, the
presidium of the western district has found itself compelled to suspend an
unworthy member of the ministerium. It is to be hoped that, through its
swift action, as well as through the fact that the conference to which
this unfortunate man belonged took the matter in hand on the spot, the
disgraceful scandal has been averted which would otherwise necessarily
have arisen from this coming to light of a godless character, especially
on the part of a preacher. In visiting the congregation concerned, I have
at least found no cause for worry, but only consequences that awaken hope.
The