# Synodical Conference Convention Proceedings_St. Louis Missouri_1916_S17
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

of the Ev. Luth. Synodical Conference of North America. 1916. 17

that is appended to the Smalcald Articles, Melanchthon speaks of three articles, "that they are false, ungodly, tyrannical and wholly harmful to Christian doctrine," namely: "The Pope boasts, first, that by divine right he is the highest over all other bishops and pastors in the whole of Christendom. Second, that by divine right he has both swords, that is, that he may set up and depose kings, order worldly kingdoms, etc. Third, he says that one is bound to believe this on pain of the loss of eternal salvation. And these are the reasons why the Pope calls and boasts himself the vicar of Christ on earth." (Müller, p. 328.) We have shown so far that the first and the third point still hold today of the papacy: that he wants to be the highest in the Church of God, who alone has power and right to say what a Christian is to believe and how he is to live, and that a Christian must therefore submit to the Pope and must be obedient to him for the sake of the salvation of his soul. It remains for us also to take a look at the second point, namely that the Pope presumes to be the highest and supreme not only in the Church but also in the state, in the worldly government, so that one would finally have to obey his commands alone there too. Precisely as regards this point, very many, even among Protestants, are very blind with respect to the papacy. While people perhaps admit that in the Middle Ages, before the time of the Reformation, the Pope did interfere in the government of the state in many ways, installed and deposed kings and emperors, released subjects from their oath of fidelity to their lawful authorities, and stirred up rebellion and wars, etc., yet in this respect the Pope has become different, especially since he was robbed of his worldly dominion. And even if the Pope still harbored such desires today, if he should still strive after worldly government, that would be quite harmless. The peoples and states have become so enlightened, so freedom-loving, that they would never again put up with such presumption. Also in the Roman Church, especially in our country, voices are heard saying that nothing is farther from the Pope than to meddle in political matters, in the purely secular affairs of the state; indeed, that the Roman Church is precisely a state-preserving power against the encroachments of the destructive forces of revolution, anarchy, etc., because it constantly impresses on its members to be subject and obedient to their government for conscience' sake. Cardinal Gibbons writes: "Finally, since the infallibility of the Popes is confined to questions of faith and morals, it does not extend to the natural sciences, such as astronomy and geology, except where under the false name of science an error is presented and science rises against revealed truth." (Whether this happens or not is, according to Roman doctrine, for