# LCMS Convention Proceedings_St. Louis Missouri_1872_S45
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

— 45 —

6. Periodicals, which in God's hand have been a blessed means toward the inner and outer growth of our Synod.

7. Brotherly harmony and cooperation with four like-minded Lutheran synods.

Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto Thy name give glory, for Thy mercy and Thy truth's sake!

II. What are the dangers of squandering this blessing?

That such dangers also threaten us is taught us by

1. the prophecies of Holy Scripture, partly concerning the general dangers of all ages — Acts 20:29–30, Matt. 13:25 — and partly concerning the particular dangers of the last times — 1 Tim. 4:1–2, 2 Tim. 3:1–2, 2 Peter 3:3, Matt. 24:11–12, Luke 18:8, 1 Thess. 5:3.

2. the fulfillment of these prophecies in the history of the Christian Church: in the post-apostolic period, in the period after Luther's death, and in the period after the Thirty Years' War.

3. two memorable sayings of Luther — in his Epistle sermon for Invocavit Sunday: "Secondly he shows the danger ... stand any longer," and in the treatise *To the Councilmen of Germany*: "Let us remember our former misery ... shall have an evil year."

III. What must be our task, so that this blessing is not squandered, but passed on as an inheritance to our descendants?

This most weighty question is pressed upon us partly by owed gratitude, partly by the vigilance called for in the face of great dangers, and partly by love for our children and descendants.

1. In general:

that we guard against ingratitude, on account of which the fountain of grace runs dry; against self-satisfied boasting, by which God is provoked to wrath to destroy what has already been built; against gluttony [*Sattheit*], greed, and a godless life.

2. In particular:

a. that pastors watch not only over their congregations but also over themselves, and keep the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience; that they prepare carefully for their sermons, exercise pastoral care conscientiously and in an evangelical spirit, refrain from all lording it over the congregation, and diligently continue their studies both in Holy Scripture and in the writings of our orthodox forefathers, so that they themselves, among one another,