# LCMS Convention Proceedings_St. Louis Missouri_1860_S23
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

— 23 —

...work is, in which we must now do without their faithful cooperation,
the more pressing here too is the shortage of workers.

Yet praise be to God that He has withdrawn His arm, which He had
already raised to chastise us still more severely. Our dear, precious
teacher, Professor Walther, thank God, stands among us again,
strengthened and refreshed, returned from his journey to Germany. May
the Lord preserve him to us for a blessing for a long time yet. But we
should now finally think in earnest about providing him with help, so
that he does not soon again succumb to the crushing burden of work. By
God's gracious help, our dear brother, Pastor Ernst, has also been put
back in a condition to take up the preaching office again.

Although I too was this time hindered in my visitation journeys by an
illness that kept me bedridden for seven weeks and from which I
recovered only slowly, I have nevertheless been able to attend all the
sessions of the district synods. In this past year, since the district
synods did not meet on account of the General Synod, I attended the
conferences as much as was possible for me — namely the Fort Wayne,
St. Louis, North Illinois, Wisconsin, and Michigan conferences. I also
had the joy, at the invitation of our dear Norwegian brothers, of
attending one of their conferences. — The various reports of the
district synods themselves bear witness that the brothers' zeal for
right doctrine and godly living has truly not diminished, and it is
plain to see that the Synod has not lost but gained by its division
into district synods. — I must bear witness of the conferences that on
them too, with great diligence and honest earnestness, time is spent,
through written papers as well as oral discussion, in becoming ever
more firmly grounded in doctrine — yet in such a way that here, too,
the most earnest care is given especially to life within the
congregations. But above all, both at the synodical conventions and at
the conferences, I have had to observe, with particular joy and
heartfelt thanks toward the Lord, how a deep, heartfelt love and a true
harmony of spirit binds the brothers of the individual conferences and
district synods not only with one another, but at the same time all of
them with the General Synod. May the Lord, who alone is the founder of
this glorious harmony, also be its keeper! May He help us recognize
this His great grace ever more vividly, so as to call upon Him
fervently for His further grace, and may each individual be diligent,
for his part, not only not to disturb this unity of spirit, but to tie
it ever more firmly. As long as God gives us the grace to be rooted in
His Word with heart and conscience, there is no cause for distress.

My visitation journeys took me mostly through the Eastern, Western,
and Northern Districts, and unless the Lord Himself places particular
obstacles in the way, I hope to be able, within the next three years,
to fulfill the task set for me of visiting all the congregations of the
synodical circle. At the same time, I ask the dear brothers to call
upon the Lord that He come to the aid of my unfitness and lay His
blessing upon my office. The brothers labor in church and school with
true faithfulness, and also with patience and perseverance under
continuing obstacles. God's blessing will not, and according to His
promise cannot,