# Synodical Conference Convention Proceedings_St. Louis Missouri_1874_S29
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

— 29 —

be, that is, he shall use the means of grace, Word and Sacrament, diligently; he shall also submit to all the arrangements of a local congregation, not have his children baptized elsewhere, not go to foreign schools, have his dead buried by the pastor of the local congregation in Christian order, submit to church discipline, and especially help to bear the burdens of the local congregation also. If a man were for five, six years not to enter into this, and a Christian congregation were to tolerate such an abnormal condition, the preacher would have to take a serious stand against it and not yield or become compliant.

It is therefore also necessary that there be diligent preaching on this, often, especially in the larger cities. But what are the chief grounds which one is to set against such disorder? First, Matt. 18:17, where the LORD says: "Tell it to the church." Hereby Christ declares the congregation to be the highest court of its members on earth. But if it is that, then I should also submit to it and become a member of it. Further it says in God's Word that Christ has set "in the church" pastors and teachers. Thereby every Christian is also told: you shall hold to the congregation, for only in it are pastors and teachers set. If you will not be a member of the congregation, you thereby also renounce the Christians and therefore also the pastors and teachers set over you by God. Thirdly the apostle says: "Let us not forsake our assembling together, as the manner of some is." Many refer this word only to congregational meetings. Although these are not excluded here, yet the services of worship of the congregation are first and chiefly to be understood by it. How can you now doubt that it is God's will that you hold as a member to the congregation of your place of residence, since it is here forbidden by the Holy Spirit, when one is already in it, to leave it again? If it is not within your choice and freedom to leave a Christian congregation, then it is also not within your choice whether you wish to belong to it or not. Finally the saying also belongs here: "Bear one another's burdens."

Now, however, the question arises here, since the Thesis is put in the interest of and with regard to parochial delimitation: should and must it also be laid upon the conscience of those who, in a place where two congregations stand intermingled, hold not to the church nearest to them but to the church farther from their dwelling? Can one say to these: you despise Christ? — Here it is well to consider that if a Christian has helped to call the pastor of his congregation, a divine bond is tied between him and this his called preacher; through the call a divine contract, as it were, is concluded; to dissolve it with a good conscience, strong motives are required. If, therefore, this weighs on the conscience of such a person, one should not demand of him that he renounce his earlier congregation and attach himself to the one within whose

[In the right margin beside "sem seinem berufenen Prediger ..." a few handwritten pencil traces, illegible; "dazu" and "mit" are underlined by hand in the print.]