# Lehre und Wehre_St. Louis Missouri_Juni 1863_S163
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

Theological Axioms.    163

cupy, so that nowhere is there left an unadulterated and pure preaching office, yet the whole Church never errs so far that there would not be people who, following the simple guidance of the Word, are so sanctified through the governance and powerful working of the Holy Spirit and through faith, that they retain the foundation of salvation, remain unstained by errors that overturn the foundation, and are preserved by God's power through faith unto salvation — although they are sometimes few, and amid the public raging of persecutions and corruptions are so hidden that they are not publicly recognized before the world.

69. Quatenus ecclesia verbum sequitur, eatenus Spiritu S. regitur et eatenus non errat. (Gerh.)

Insofar as the Church follows the Word, so far is it governed by the Holy Spirit, and so far does it not err.

70. It is not God's Word because the Church says it; rather, because God's Word is spoken, therefore the Church comes to be. The Church does not make the Word, but she is made by the Word. (Luther.)

71. Vera ecclesia res adiaphoras non jubet facere vel omittere propter suum mandatum, sed tantum propter τάξιν καὶ εὐσχημοσύνην conservandam, ut ordo observetur et scandalum vitetur, quae, quamdiu non violantur, conscientias liberas relinquit, nec iis vel scrupulum injicit, vel necessitatem imponit. (Gerh.)

The true Church does not command that things indifferent be done or omitted for the sake of her own command, but only for the sake of preserving order and propriety; so long as these are not violated, she leaves the conscience free, and thereby neither lays a scruple upon it nor imposes anything as necessary.

72. This is enough for the true unity of the Christian churches, that the Gospel be preached there in harmony according to a pure understanding, and the Sacraments administered in accordance with the divine Word; and it is not necessary for the true unity of the Christian churches that uniform ceremonies, instituted by men, be observed everywhere. (Augsburg Confession.)

73. Dissonantia jejunii non dissolvit consonantiam fidei. (Form. Concord.)

"Disagreement in fasting shall not divide the unity of faith."

74. Now indeed some clever little menders are beginning to patch things up; they want to advise in the matter and settle the quarrel, pretending that both sides ought to yield and give way. We let them go ahead and try what they can; we grant them the trouble gladly — but if they can make the devil pious and at one with Christ, then they will be the first to do it. I hold, however, that such patchwork is just as if (as Jesus Sirach 22:7 says) one wanted to mend potsherds together. And indeed there have already been many cobblers who attempted it, but who likewise labored in vain and lost both thread and stitch. (Luther.)