# Synodical Conference Convention Proceedings_St. Louis Missouri_1884_S54
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

52 Proceedings of the tenth convention

revelation of the truth," etc. The word of the holy writers therefore remains the sole norm of all doctrine until the Last Day. That holds of no other human writer. Hence we should also take note, as a parallel, of the word of the prophet Jeremiah: "Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his arm." One ought to tremble at this word in this our controversy too. Whoever follows the fathers as his authority in a doctrine holds a poor man, who is nothing but frail flesh, for his arm, for his strength, and so makes him his god. Moreover, it is not even always "great men" to whom one clings. Often the poor people are impressed by the most wretched fellows, and one takes up their teaching as if it had been spoken down from heaven, as the purest gospel. Oh, how corrupt man is! Even in matters of faith he often attaches himself to the most miserable individuals.

We read further in John 2:23–25: "Now when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover, at the feast, many believed in his name, when they saw the signs which he did. But Jesus did not trust himself to them; for he knew them all, and needed not that any should testify of man; for he knew well what was in man." It does not, to be sure, say here outright that one should not trust any believer either. But we are told that many believed on the Lord Jesus, and yet Christ did not trust them, "for," it says, "he knew them all." By this the Lord says indirectly: even on believers one is not to build in matters of faith. One should indeed, in charity, think the best of everyone who confesses the Word, but nevertheless not trust him without further ado in matters of faith. And why not? He can err. Nothing in the world should move us to follow a man in doctrine for his own sake, however certainly he be a believer.

Luther therefore writes: "This is now a very necessary doctrine, that we should always expect the best of people, especially of believers, and yet know that they can fail and err. If this doctrine had been held more firmly in Christendom, we should have had neither the Pope nor all his filth and stench of antichristian doctrine, by which the Christian church was afterwards led astray. For in the papacy they soon reasoned thus and said: Oh, he is a holy man, therefore whatever he says is all right. Take for yourself the examples of St. Ambrose, Gregory, Augustine and Jerome, and afterwards, further down, Bernard, Benedict, Dominic and Francis; until at last they gathered up everything that anyone had said and taught who was held to be a holy man. Against this I am to let myself be warned here and say: I am quite willing to believe that the aforesaid people, such as St. Gregory, Ambrose and Augustine, were holy people; but I do not trust them. For although they are holy