# Synodical Conference Convention Proceedings_St. Louis Missouri_1874_S14
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

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have their particular congregation, over which alone the Holy Spirit has placed them to tend it (Acts 20:28), over whose souls they are therefore also to watch, and for which they are one day to give account (Heb. 13:17).

Thesis 4.

Who or how many are to belong to the district [Sprengel] of each preacher, that is, to his parish, is not determined in God's Word, is therefore in itself not juris divini [of divine right] but humani [of human right], and thus a matter of Christian liberty and of agreement (Gal. 2:9).

Already last year a beginning had been made with the discussion of the 5th Thesis. What was recorded about it, however, was to be taken into account only this year. It therefore follows here first, together with the original wording of the

Thesis 5.

Following the apostolic precedent of appointing the elders or pastors κατὰ πόλιν, that is, city by city, from town to town, from place to place (Titus 1:5), the parishes [Parochieen] or pastorates should not be determined by an arbitrary number of heads and changing persons, but should be geographically bounded and have their own territory, for

1) in the Church all things are to be done decently and in order (1 Cor. 14:40); but without territorial delimitation, when the members of different congregations live intermingled, some holding to this side, others to that, nothing else can arise than disorder, confusion, perplexity;

2) the preacher should know which are the souls committed to him and not committed to him (1 Pet. 5:2), over which he has especially to watch and for which he has especially to give account (Heb. 13:17), not to meddle in another's office or be an ἀλλοτριοεπίσκοπος [a busybody in other men's matters] (1 Pet. 3:15 [sic]) and not to build on another's foundation (Rom. 15:18–20), and thus to reap and harvest where others have planted and sown; all of which is not possible without the division of congregations into παροικήσεις [parishes];

3) Christians should not attach themselves to preachers because of their gifts and separate themselves on that account; but if the congregations are not geographically determined, an arrangement is thereby made that one picks out the preachers and holds to those one happens to like; instead of looking to the Word, one looks