# Synodical Conference Convention Proceedings_St. Louis Missouri_1875_S16
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

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[The Council] objects, of course, that the American preacher is a gentleman and will not abuse such courtesy for the proclamation of his false doctrines. We answer: 1. It is sinful to place one's trust in men and their sincerity, honesty or even courtesy. 2. Whoever is caught in false doctrine, his whole doctrine is permeated and spoiled by this leaven. A Lutheran preacher who lets a false teacher into his pulpit strengthens him and his congregation in their errors and in their unionism, denies his own doctrine, and offends the orthodox church. A false teacher may not be admitted to one's pulpit even then, if he wished to read aloud or deliver a sermon composed by an orthodox preacher.

But what if we are invited by those of false belief to preach for them? Answer: With our decided testimony and rejection of all false doctrines, such cases will not occur often. If we nevertheless find ourselves in that position, we must earnestly take care not to bring upon ourselves the appearance of unionism, for we live in a syncretistic (religion-mixing) age, in which one will put up with a testimony to the truth but not with the rejection and condemnation of false doctrine. Therefore neither the preacher nor the congregation may be denied the declaration that one regards them as a fellowship of false belief. Conscience then does not demand that one use the occasion for polemics against them. That is our practice. Preachers who act otherwise we take into discipline. We must also earnestly guard against all participation in confessional ceremonies of false belief, in praying and singing with the erring, and in their religion-mixing societies for the achievement of churchly purposes. We cannot take part in their festivities for churchly charitable purposes, either by support or by joining in, without making ourselves partakers of others' sins. The joint use of churches was also mentioned here. Something different was the necessary use of so-called simultaneum churches by the Lutherans in earlier times, when there was no mixing of faiths and churches. But now there is no such necessity here that an orthodox congregation would have to use one and the same church with those of false belief.

According to the 8th Thesis a contradiction between confession and practice occurs, secondly, "if a Lutheran church body tolerates, or even approves and endorses, altar fellowship with non-Lutherans within its fellowship." Thus the Wittenberg theological faculty wrote in the year 1568 in an opinion: "The use of the Lord's Supper, like all the sacraments, is a public testimony and confession, of whatever church one is a member, and of whatever doctrine, faith, religion one may have for himself, believe and confess, and hold without doubt to be the eternal and unchangeable divine truth." (Dedekennus, Thesaurus I, 634.) The same relation