# Synodical Conference Convention Proceedings_St. Louis Missouri_1884_S43
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

of the Ev. Luth. Synodical Conference of North America. 1884. 41

"Upon this rock I will build my congregation, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." For if the doctrine of the Fathers is put under it, then it is built on sand and will fall in the first best trial. The first storm wind of false doctrine will lay it in ruins. As soon as one wants to bring human wisdom into the Church and thus Holy Scripture is to be dethroned, we should at once stand up, rend our garments in indignation, and set ourselves with all our might against it, so that not a speck of human doctrine come onto the scene. This the honor of God demands, and the welfare of the poor world of sinners.

But this also is a reason for rejecting that principle, that it is contrary to the doctrine contained in Scripture. Now we could indeed have cited a whole multitude of doctrines against which the principle offends, of establishing matters of faith from the writings of the Fathers and binding consciences to their doctrinal decisions. For our proof, however, it will suffice if we, as is done in our theses, compare only the two chief doctrines concerned.

It is, namely, first, contrary to the nature of the faith of Christians, which, according to Scripture, it has, namely to be founded on God's Word and therefore divinely certain.

It is true: it is very easy to believe if one is accustomed to say: so writes a Luther, Hunnius, Gerhard and others, and they surely have what is right, and since they believe so, I believe it too. Thousands stand in this faith. But that is no true faith, but only a painted faith. For it stands on a false ground. True faith stands on God's Word alone. It is indeed hard to hold a doctrine to be irrefutably true when one has no testimony of great holy men for it, yes, when perhaps all cry out to me: You teach falsely! and I am to say: I am nevertheless right, and if the whole world takes the field against it, I nevertheless stay with this doctrine.

In this Luther surpasses everything. When he came forward in the 16th century with the pure doctrine, he had to say to himself: so it has not been taught for more than 1000 years. Against each of his doctrines the papists could bring citations from a Church Father, although to be sure Luther too could in turn cite individual citations from the Church Fathers for his doctrine. But he could rely, for his whole doctrine, on no single council, still less on the teachers of the Middle Ages, the Scholastics, not on the Pope, not on the cardinals, nor on the theologians of the faculties, nor on the teachers in the monasteries. Yes, all the so-called enlightened, who in many points did not agree with the Pope, like an Erasmus, for example, they too were against him. His own fellow confessors often became anxious and afraid, namely