# Lehre und Wehre_St. Louis Missouri_April 1858_S122
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

122 Bavaria.

and come to light, there the healing lies far nearer than where the eye perceives, apparently, nothing but health. Above all, my worthy and highly honored gentlemen, I place my whole unconditional trust in you. For it is altogether different when the discussion of church affairs is transplanted out of the streets into the circle of those who are called to the deliberation of the interests of our church as outwardly as they are inwardly capable and skilled. I do not doubt for a moment that your reverend assembly will furnish factual and eloquent proof that, while one may divide the general synod of our territorial church, one can never, ever inwardly split it. — You have come here with the rich, if also bitter, experiences of the recent past. You, my dear gentlemen, know the means that alone lead to true peace. You are called to preserve what was then laid as a foundation in the year 1853. You are also called to heal misunderstandings, and to resist manfully those who fight against the good confession of our church, so that God the Lord may acknowledge our work and grant our church here on earth yet a victory. For this work I wish you, from the bottom of my heart, the aid that comes from above. And if I speak to you with confidence, it is because I know that behind me stands One before whom every knee must bow, and who will lay those who resist Him, whether they will or not, as a footstool for His feet; the cause is His, yes, not mine! — But think also, all of you, that you all stand here in the service of the Lord and strive for His kingdom. May the peace of the Lord therefore be with us and fill you, with courage and resolve as much as with wisdom and gentleness, so that everything that is called fleshly zeal may remain far from us."

At the opening service which then followed, Consistorial Councillor Dr. Kraußold preached on Psalm 93:5: Thy word is the right doctrine; holiness is the ornament of Thy house forever, and drew from it the thought that the foundation of the church is the Word, that the church is built up through right doctrine, and that the goal of the church must be recognized in holiness as the true ornament of the house.

If, then, the reporter does not believe it necessary to treat the proceedings of the Bavarian synod as exhaustively as those of the Ansbach [synod], the reason for this lies solely in avoiding the otherwise unavoidable repetitions. For the readers of the Ev. K. Z., likewise, it is not so much the detail as rather the spirit which prevailed also in the Bayreuth assembly that matters. And thank God that what could be said of the Ansbach synod in this respect holds true of the Bayreuth [synod] in the fullest measure — indeed, if possible, in even higher measure, inasmuch as here (in Bayreuth) the elements of opposition which were found in Ansbach, though only sporadically and powerlessly, were almost entirely absent, or at least did not attempt to assert themselves in any way.

With regard to the proposals made by the church government, we here communicate the wording of the resolutions adopted concerning the catechism. It was resolved unanimously, according to the committee's proposal:

May the Right Reverend Synod be pleased to declare:

1. that it recognizes the submitted catechism draft by Caspari as a significant work, and wishes to have expressed to the author its thanks for it;