# LCMS Convention Proceedings_St. Louis Missouri_1860_S14
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

— 14 —

...the precious ointment that runs down from Aaron's head upon his whole
beard, that runs down onto his garment; like the dew that falls from
Hermon upon the mountains of Zion. For there the Lord has commanded the
blessing, life for evermore." How has the Lord here unlocked for us the
riches of His Word, so that we grew and increased in knowledge, were
strengthened in faith, kindled in love, encouraged to praise God, and
made able for the service of our neighbor in heartfelt patience and
self-denial. When we were ready to grow faint and weary in the course
appointed to us, how we have here been refreshed again! How much
comfort and refreshment has flowed to us from this blessed fellowship,
so that we could lift up our drooping hands and feeble knees again, and
make straight paths for our feet.

Therefore we now wish, since the Lord, in His great kindness and
graciousness, has again brought us together after an interval of three
years, first and above all to thank Him heartily for it; and at the
same time also to ask Him with full confidence that He would, as
before, so now too bless our assembly, that we may stand fast in Him
and thus fast with one another in one mind and one accord; and think,
speak, and do according to His Word what is pleasing before Him and
useful and needful for our congregations. And that He would, on the
other hand, break and hinder all evil counsel and will that would not
hallow God's name and let His kingdom come — namely, the will of the
devil, the world, and our own flesh — and strengthen and keep us firm
in His Word and faith until our end. Yes, amen! That is His gracious
and good will.

Before we now, my beloved brothers, turn to the deliberations
themselves, allow me to claim your attention for a few more moments.
However much it is held against us and charged to us as "Missourian
arrogance" when we boast of the treasure of pure doctrine and of the
confession that agrees with Scripture, in contrast to those here and in
our dear old fatherland who call themselves Lutheran but prove by
doctrine and practice that they are not, it nevertheless remains true,
and we will confess it freely and joyfully to God's honor: by God's
utterly pure grace we find ourselves in undiminished possession of our
fathers' inheritance — which, thank God, would have room for the whole
world, if only it would let itself be led back to the house of God. Our
periodicals, our synodical reports, and whatever else may go out from
our side as testimony of our faith and our disposition, show clearly
that we intend to make ourselves ever more at home in it, while at the
same time warding off everything by which this precious treasure
entrusted to us might be injured or diminished. How much in earnest we
are about this, and to what extent, was shown by the Synod's last
convention, where it had to exclude from its fellowship a brother
otherwise beloved, highly esteemed, and entrusted with the important
office of a district president, because he would not give up his
extremely harmful chiliastic [millenarian] fancies. That we hold to the
right understanding of the individual doctrines in their connection
with one another, and especially of all of them with the chief article
of justification, our periodicals and other testimonies likewise, I
think, sufficiently show. In short, my beloved and honored brothers, we