# LCMS Convention Proceedings_St. Louis Missouri_1872_S88
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

— 88 —

religious feeling alive among the people, and because in those days people
still diligently read the Bible; but now matters stand badly, since ungodly,
unbelieving, and immoral people are often employed at the schools. God's
punishment upon our people for this sin will not fail to come. The raising
of the standard of our schools, moreover, does not consist chiefly in
cramming children full with a mass of subjects — however worth knowing
— for this temporal life, but above all in raising the standard of religious
instruction. It is wrongheaded when our elementary schools try to
compete with the godless schools in every possible kind of knowledge at
the expense of religion. Better that we raise simple children of God than
clever children of the devil. "Seek first the kingdom of God" — that must
hold for our school system too. After the thirteenth year, the age at
which they can be confirmed, there is, if they are reasonably gifted, still
time enough for children to learn everything else needful and useful for
this life. In his elementary school, by contrast, the child should acquire a
fine store of Bible verses, the chief parts of the catechism, biblical history,
psalms, and hymn verses. Within our city congregations, therefore, greater
effort should be applied to establishing higher municipal schools [*höhere
Bürgerschulen*]. Reference was further made to the history of our
Lutheran church in this country. It is true that our fathers in this land —
a Mühlenberg and others — at first provided, just as for pure doctrine, so
also for Christian parish schools with catechism instruction; but soon
afterward the necessary diligence in this was no longer applied. What was
the consequence of this? States that could almost entirely have remained
German and Lutheran have become English and territory of the sects.
Among the sects we must now go looking for the children of thousands of
Lutheran forefathers. —

Congregations must also practice "brotherly correction and church
discipline." This is already commanded by the law of love; for one is,
after all, to correct the erring in a friendly way out of love, in order to
help them, and therefore brotherly correction must indeed proceed from
love. Both admonition and discipline must be exercised in an evangelical
spirit, not with quarreling and in a pharisaical manner, but always with
the intention of improving the sinner. The mere observance of the
outward form, without this loving intention, is not enough. The stages of
admonition must be used wisely for the salvation of the sinner. In our
confessional writings it is indeed rejected as a fanatical [*schwärmerisch*]
error to teach that the true church exists only where strict church
discipline is also practiced. From this, many would-be Lutherans have
concluded: it is therefore a mark of the true Lutheran church to practice
no church discipline at all. Having and practicing strict church discipline
is, in these people's opinion, Calvinist-Reformed; the Lutheran church, they
say, wants no discipline, and looks only to the pure doctrine. But that is a
grave error. It is simply not true that one can have regard for purity of
doctrine if discipline is not practiced, for among the false