# LCMS Convention Proceedings_St. Louis Missouri_1911_S22
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

22  Proceedings of the 28th General or

understands this art. In 1 Corinthians 2 the apostle Paul explains that the gospel is not a wisdom of this world, nor of the rulers of this world, but the secret, hidden wisdom of God, which God ordained before the world for our glory, and which none of the rulers of this world has known. The preaching of the gospel, in both content and form, can be taught by the Holy Spirit alone. Since the Holy Spirit dwells in the church alone, the church alone is able to reveal to the world the great mystery of the gospel. It stands, therefore, that if the church does not preach the gospel, the gospel is not preached at all. But since the preaching of the gospel is necessary for people's salvation, and without this preaching Christ would have suffered in vain, all members of the church — young and old, great and small, rich and poor — are to preach the gospel diligently. The church is to be wholly absorbed in this calling, so that it rightly deserves the name "preacher." "Zion, you who bring good news, go up on a high mountain! Jerusalem, you who bring good news, lift up your voice with strength; lift it up, do not be afraid! Say to the cities of Judah: Behold, there is your God!" Whatever other praiseworthy works the church may have to leave undone under the pressure of the times, one thing it must never forget: the preaching of the grace of God in Christ Jesus. Woe to it if, through excessive busyness, it forgets or even merely neglects this its real business!

Our Synod, dear brothers, has now for more than sixty years been a preacher of this good news. It was chiefly the blessed Dr. Walther, through whose service God made her such a preacher. Grant, O Lord, that she may remain so in her higher and lower schools, in her congregations, and in her missions! —

So let us now go about our work with confidence! Over the order of business of every day of this Synod we place the heading: The preaching of the gospel — the real business of the Missouri Synod.

Let the peoples thank and praise you, God, for their good deeds;
Let the land bring forth its fruit and better itself,
For your Word has prospered well.
May the Father and the Son bless us,
May God the Holy Spirit bless us,
Whom all the world shall honor,
And before whom it shall stand in awe above all else.
Now say from the heart: Amen!

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Following this came the reading, by the secretary, of a Presidential Address of the Reverend General President Dr. F. Pieper, since the Reverend President unfortunately found himself compelled to forgo personal participation in the sessions of the Synod.