# Synodical Conference Convention Proceedings_St. Louis Missouri_1879_S8
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

— 8 —

false doctrine and the prestige of the false teachers have grown over their heads, — should such communions then still be recognized as Lutheran? Certainly not! An orthodox body is not one in whose midst there are orthodox people, but one such as the Augsburg Confession, Art. VII, describes:
"It is also taught that one holy Christian Church must be and remain for all time, which is the assembly of all believers, among whom the Gospel is purely preached and the holy Sacraments are administered according to the Gospel. For this is sufficient for the true unity of the Christian Church, that there the Gospel be preached in harmony according to a pure understanding and the Sacraments be administered in accordance with the divine Word."

Any body that cannot subscribe to this is not orthodox, and one must separate from it. With this agrees also the Tenth Article of the Formula of Concord in the "Repetition" [the Epitome]:
"In this way the churches, on account of inequality of ceremonies, where in Christian freedom one has fewer or more of them, do not condemn one another, when otherwise they are united with one another in doctrine and in all its articles, and in the right use of the holy Sacraments."

The Augsburg Confession says: "in harmony" (not that some be among them), and the Formula of Concord says: "united." How can we then be true to our Confession if we maintain that it is not so highly necessary to preserve unity in doctrine by means of doctrinal discipline? The Lutheran Church is the true visible Church of God on earth, because it has the truth, because it does not tolerate error and does not let itself be bribed in it. We would gladly extend the hand of brotherhood to all who appeal to our Confession; but it is dangerous to do something against conscience, and it is against conscience to extend the hand of brotherhood to those who can tolerate false doctrine.

If we now look around among the American church bodies that call themselves Lutheran, we shall find that matters stand better there than in the German state churches, especially in the General Council, inasmuch as, so far as we know, no open rationalists are found in it. But they too content themselves with the formal confession, with the confession on paper; for when it comes to doctrinal discipline, one does not find them at home, as they prove clearly, both by tolerating chiliasts and those who teach falsely about Church and Ministry, and by the now twelve-year-old waiting position of the Iowa Synod in the Council. Because the Council calls itself Lutheran, we do not let ourselves be seduced into recognizing it as an orthodox church communion, any more than we would recognize a field as a pure wheat field in front of which a sign