# Synodical Conference Convention Proceedings_St. Louis Missouri_1916_S11
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

of the Ev. Luth. Synodical Conference of North America. 1916. 11

formal principle of the Reformation, the truth that Holy Scripture alone, the revealed Word of God, can establish articles of faith, and no one else, not even an angel from heaven; that consciences are to be bound solely to the clear Word of God and otherwise to nothing in heaven and on earth. In opposition they decree that alongside Holy Scripture the oral traditions and the common consensus of the Fathers are also a source of faith. In addition, the Council decrees that no one can or may interpret Scripture except the Church, that is to say, in other words, the Pope and his clergy. And likewise the Pope is to decide what in fact the tradition, the oral tradition, is. Thus it finally lies in the power of the Pope alone to determine what is divine doctrine and what is not, what a man must believe on pain of his salvation and what not, what he is to do or leave undone on pain of losing his salvation. — The decrees of the Council of Trent further destroy the material principle of the Reformation, that is, the truth that man is justified and saved before God without the works of the law, by God's grace alone, for Christ's sake alone, through faith alone. In this its chief confession the Roman Church teaches still today that man cannot be saved by grace alone, but must at least in part help to earn his salvation himself. It curses the one who teaches that man is saved without the works of the law, through faith alone. It therefore also teaches that a Christian can and may not be certain of his state of grace and of his salvation; indeed, it curses the one who teaches this on the basis of Scripture, and so it robs Christians of all true comfort and leads them to doubt, indeed, as far as its doctrine is concerned, to despair. — The Council of Trent further maintains the whole abomination of the Mass and teaches that in the Mass a real and true sacrifice is offered, that the priest repeats Christ's one sacrifice for sin ever anew, so that the Mass is in truth a sin-offering. It solemnly curses everyone who says that the sacrifice of the Mass is only a sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving or a mere remembrance of the sacrifice made on the cross, and not a sin-offering; that it benefits only the one who receives the body of the Lord; and that it ought not to be offered for the living and the dead, for sins, punishments, satisfactions and other necessary things. We could go on in this way and show with every article how the Council of Trent turns against every truth that the Reformation had brought back to light out of God's Word; how it solemnly asserts its shameful human inventions [*Menschenfündlein*] and lays under its curse the one who teaches according to the clear Word of God and rejects its human commandments. And so the Roman Church teaches still today.

In one point the Council of Trent has not yet expressed itself quite clearly and definitely, namely on the supremacy of the