# LCMS Convention Proceedings_St. Louis Missouri_1899_S30
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

30 Proceedings of the 24th General, or

But with God's word the church can also accomplish everything it has
to accomplish among its own members. Among its own members, too, the
church continually has much to accomplish. The church wields the
word; at the same time it is, and remains, also the object of the
word — that is, God's word must continually exert its divine power
and efficacy on the members of the church as well, if they are to
remain members of the church and carry out the works commanded them.
Above all, it is a matter of preserving faith in those who have come
to believe. Faith in Christ is not something one puts in one's
pocket once and for all, and then carries about securely — that is,
without danger of loss — without giving it further thought. No,
faith, if it is not to cease, must be continually and carefully
nourished and cultivated. But with what, by what means? Faith is a
plant of heaven, and as such wants to be nourished only with heavenly
food. This heavenly food is God's word. Faith does not live by and
from a human word, by human persuasion, nor by merely outward
ecclesiastical forms. No, faith lives solely from and through God's
word. If the church, then, is to cultivate and preserve faith in its
members as far as it is able, it must, as far as it is able, see to
it that God's word dwells richly among its members, that the members
of the church occupy themselves unceasingly with God's word. The aim
must be to bring it about that the members of the church attend the
public services not merely now and then, but regularly. The aim must
be to bring it about that in every Christian household, not merely in
some of them, God's word is read daily. It is especially important,
too, to see to it that our young people grow up in schools where
God's word is the supreme teacher and the true disciplinarian, so
that the plant of heaven, faith in Christ, can flourish in school as
well. It is important not to grow weary in the most careful
cultivation of our higher schools, in which teachers and preachers of
God's word are trained. To all these things we are driven by the
knowledge that the word which God has entrusted to his church is the
divine power for producing and preserving faith in Christ.

The cultivation and preservation of faith implies that the church
must continually strive to save its members from the nature of this
world. It is not the case that once a person has, through
regeneration or conversion, actually been saved out of the world,
there is no longer any danger at all of his returning to the old
camp. The children of Israel wanted to go back to Egypt again. St.
Paul, referring to one particular case, breaks out in the lament:
"Demas has forsaken me, having loved this present world." The state
of affairs is this: even in Christians there still remains a
powerful pull toward the world. Toward it they are ceaselessly drawn
by the old