# Synodical Conference Convention Proceedings_St. Louis Missouri_1924_S25
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

of the Ev. Luth. Synodical Conference of North America. 1924 25

than before. For since one would not have to be subject to such a head by God's command, but out of human good will, he would very easily and soon be despised, finally retain no member, and would not have to be always at Rome or [at] another place, but wherever and in whichever church God had given such a man who was fit for it. O, that would become a sprawling, desolate mess!" (Conc. Trigl., 472.)

We have said that the Pope has never yet been able to unite the Church. But the matter is still worse. Like an ignorant, foolish bungler he has not only failed to unite the Church, but he has made evil worse. By bringing up doctrines contrary to God's Word and persisting in them, by forbidding the laity, for example, the blessed cup in the Lord's Supper and commanding the worship of idols, he has renounced the holy Church himself, and in that he has led others into such disobedience, he has torn thousands away from unity in the faith. In that he has set up the kingdom of the Antichrist, he has become among men the chief rebel against the authority of the one Lord and has contributed more than anyone else to destroying the unity of the Church. Yes, there can be no doubt that through his many bloody persecutions and through his deceitful doctrines he has in a cruel manner torn members away from the inner unity with the brethren, until it has come to the point that the papacy is "drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus," Rev. 17:6. Nothing has caused so much confusion and devastation in the Church as the papacy. And in spite of all its protests the Pope, through his disobedience and his rebellion against Christ, is to this day the chief obstacle that stands in the way of the unity of the Church. The papacy works day and night with its mighty machinery of spiritual and earthly means and with its whole influence against the unity of the Church. There are many Christians in outward bondage under the Pope who sigh under his tyranny and are hindered by this scourge and plague of mankind from coming to outward unity with other Christians. And yet simple people in their ignorance look toward Rome, which is supposed to bring about the unity. Let us pray:

    Lord, keep us steadfast in Thy Word;
    Curb those who by deceit or sword
    Would wrest the kingdom from Thy Son
    And set at naught all He hath done.

Caesaropapism is another method that has been proposed in some circles. The state is to take up the matter and force the people to uniformity of confession and worship by penalties, imprisonment, banishment into exile and death. That is a similar papacy, only on a smaller scale. It can aim at unity only in a certain limited territory and has never reached the goal, miserable as it was. To see what a failure it was, one need only look at the attempts of Henry VIII in England or Philip II in the Netherlands or Duke George in little Saxony in Luther's time. Joachim I of Brandenburg could not even force his own family to unity, much less to a hearty agreement. In short, attempts to unite the Church by force, as the Pope and some magistrates have done,