# Lehre und Wehre_St. Louis Missouri_M rz 1858_S76
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

76 On the Divisions in the Lutheran Congregations Here.

deceived by the devil, over the sacrament or some other point of dispute: one should not immediately quarrel over a single article and thereby tear apart Christian love, nor hand one another over to the devil on account of it; but rather, even if one erred in some minor point where one is otherwise agreed in other things, one might well yield somewhat and let it pass, and nevertheless maintain brotherly and Christian unity or fellowship. No, dear sir, not for me any peace and unity that costs God's Word; for with that the eternal life and everything else would already be lost. Here it is not a matter of yielding, nor of conceding anything, for your sake or for the sake of any man. Rather, all things must yield to the Word, be it friend or foe. For it is not given for the sake of outward or worldly unity and peace, but for the sake of eternal life. The Word and the doctrine are to produce Christian unity or fellowship; where that is equal and one, the rest will follow well enough; where it is not, then no unity remains at all. Therefore tell me of no love or friendship where one would break off from the Word or the faith; for it is not written: Love, but: the Word brings eternal life, God's grace, and all heavenly treasures. This we are gladly willing to do, that we keep outward peace with them, as we must do in the world with everyone, even with the worst enemies; that goes its own way, in this life and worldly affairs, over which we have nothing to fight; but on account of the doctrine and false fellowship we will have nothing to do with them, nor hold them as brothers, but as enemies." Further:

Galatians 5:9: "A little leaven leavens the whole lump."

If this earnest warning of the holy apostle were once acknowledged more fully as truth, as divine truth, which applies not only to the Galatians but also to the Lutherans, even to the Lutherans in America — then above all else that sinful, God-displeasing brotherly union with the men and synods of the well-known Platform must first cease. Or are their publicly declared deviations from the doctrines of Holy Scripture and the symbolical books no leaven at all? Or is the whole lump of the General Synod so thoroughly sound, clear, and firm, and so far above all temptation and souring, that it need not fear the leaven, and may regard the apostle's admonition as inapplicable to it and therefore reject it? May I be permitted, on this passage too, Gal. 5:9, to cite the weighty words of Dr. Luther, who, though indeed not born in America, might nevertheless well be worth hearing by the "Lutherans." (VIII, 2652, ff.)

"A little leaven leavens the whole lump. (Gal. 5:9.) This is a warning that St. Paul holds in high regard, and of which we too should rightly think a great deal, especially in our own time. For the sects who claim that Christ's body and blood are not present in the Supper reproach us and speak ill of us, saying that we are quarrelsome, hard-headed, and unfriendly, and