# LCMS Convention Proceedings_St. Louis Missouri_1902_S81
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

Tenth Delegate Synod of Missouri, Ohio, and Other States, 1902. 81

...will only become more numerous with time. How much difficulty,
strife, and vexation — and hence also harm to the Church — would result
if the separation were carried through here. How much better, then, for
the Church, that Germans and English dwell under one roof and do not
divide into two different synods.

"4. We therefore recommend to the Synod:

"a. that it bring about an amendment, or rather a striking-out, of the
provision made in Chapter II, § 7 of the synodical constitution, in the
manner prescribed by Chapter VII.

"The § 7 in question requires, namely, the exclusive use of the
German language in the synodical conventions. That this provision,
by the wording of Chapter VII, belongs among the unalterable
provisions cannot keep the Synod from the recommended amendment;
for it lies in an entirely different area from the rest of Chapter II. The
latter are required and governed by God's Word, but § 7 plainly
belongs to the domain of Christian liberty. It would be contrary to
the spirit, indeed to the express teaching, of the Synod to place this
provision in § 7 on the same footing as the other paragraphs of
Chapter VII and to make the Synod's prosperity and welfare — that
is, the Kingdom of God's — depend on it just as on those, namely on
the exclusive use of the German language. What Dr. Walther
('Pastoral Theology,' § 47) says regarding the drafting of congregational
constitutions surely applies here as well. He writes: 'No provision
made therein [that is, in the constitution] that concerns something
neither commanded nor forbidden in God's Word should be
unalterable, but should at any time be changeable and repealable in
Christian order by a substantial majority vote, or at least by a
unanimous resolution.'

"b. that it then resolve to admit English-speaking congregations,
pastors, and teachers into its fellowship from now on, or rather to keep
them in its fellowship.

"c. that it then also declare itself ready, perhaps, to come to an
understanding with the English sister synod on this matter.

"To be sure, the proposal is not concerned with the shared interests of
the German and the English Missouri Synod. The question here is
rather only this: what should we, the German Missouri Synod, do in
the field entrusted to us by God, so that what we do may serve, to the
best of our knowledge, the furthering of the Kingdom of God? Doing
this is then, for us, a matter of conscience. We must do it whether we
like it or not — and likewise whether others like it or not. Nevertheless


[Signature at the foot of the page: "6" — a printer’s sheet signature, not a folio.]