# LCMS Convention Proceedings_St. Louis Missouri_1914_S17
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

14th Delegate Synod of Missouri, Ohio, and Other States, 1914.   17

[Faint show-through of text from the facing page (PDF 22, the committee list) is visible along the left margin; not transcribed.]

Synodical Address.

We lift our eyes to the hills, from which our help comes. Amen.

Reverend and beloved fathers and brothers in the Lord!

In the year 1530 Luther drew up forty theses on the doctrine of the church under the heading: "The following articles Dr. Martin Luther, preacher to the holy church at Wittenberg, intends, by God's grace, to maintain against the whole school of Satan and all the gates of hell." Of these statements, two groups are especially important for every church assembly; may they therefore serve as an introduction to our synodical session.

To the first group belong the following theses:

"The Christian Church has no power to establish any article of faith; it has never done so, and it never will.

"The Christian Church has no power to prescribe any commandment of good works; it has never done so, and it never will.

"All articles of faith are set forth sufficiently in Holy Scripture, so that none may be added.

"All commandments of good works are set forth sufficiently in Holy Scripture, so that none may be added.

"The Christian Church confirms the Gospel and Holy Scripture as a subject; it displays and confesses them just as a servant displays his master's colors and coat of arms."

The second group reads as follows:

"The Christian Church has power to establish customs and practices to be observed in fasting, festivals, eating, drinking, dress, vigils, and the like.

"Yet not over others without their consent, but only over itself; it has never done otherwise, and it never will.

"Also, that such customs not work against the articles of faith or against good works — that is, that they carry no danger or harm to faith and love.

"Also, that they not confuse or burden consciences.

"Also, that they not remain forever, but may at any time, for good reason, be discontinued and changed."

Luther here emphasizes two things. First, the Christian Church cannot establish articles of faith or any commandment of good works, and has never attempted to do so. God has set forth all articles of faith and all commandments of good works in Holy Scripture. The Bible is a closed whole, to which the Church is to add nothing and from which it is to take nothing away. The Church's calling is, as a subject, to confirm the whole of Holy Scripture, to display it and

[Signature at the foot of the page: "2" — a printer's sheet signature, not a folio.]