# Lehre und Wehre_St. Louis Missouri_August 1863_S228
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

228 Theological Axioms.

57. Drum ist des Bischofs Weihen nichts anders, denn als wenn er an Statt und Person der ganzen Sammlung Einen aus dem Haufen nähme, die alle gleiche Gewalt haben, und ihm beföhle, dieselbe Gewalt für die andern auszurichten; gleich als wenn zehen Brüder, Königskinder, gleiche Erben, Einen erwähleten, das Erbe für sie zu regieren; sie wären je Alle Könige und gleicher Gewalt, und doch Einem zu regieren befohlen wird. (Luther.)

Therefore the bishop's ordaining is nothing other than that he, in the place and person of the whole assembly, should take one out of the multitude — who all have equal power — and command him to exercise that same power on behalf of the others; just as if ten brothers, king's children and equal heirs, chose one of them to govern the inheritance for them; they would all alike be kings, of equal power, and yet one of them would be charged to govern. (Luther.)

58. Etsi legitimae εὐταξίας ratione recte fit, quod episcopus personae ordinandae una cum presbyterio manus imponit, is tamen non agit hic privato arbitrio ac potestate propria, sed nomine, jure, suffragio, autoritate, consensu, adprobatione, adeoque etiam conjunctis precibus totius ecclesiae; sicque executio fit per episcopum, actus autem est totius ecelesiae. (Gerh.)

Although it rightly happens, for the sake of lawful good order, that the bishop, together with the presbytery, lays hands on the person to be ordained, yet he does not act here according to his own private will and in his own plenary power, but in the name, by the right, upon the vote, under the authority, with the consent, with the confirmation, and therefore also with the prayers of the whole church; and so the carrying-out is done through the bishop, but the act itself is an act of the church.

59. In casu necessitatis non solum presbyter, sed etiam seniores cujuslibet particularis ecclesiae possunt ordinare alios, quia potestas ordinandi non inest uni membro ecclesiae, e. g. episcopo, per modum habitus vel characteris permanentis, sed per modum commissionis et potestatis transitoriae, qualem mandatarius aut negotiorum gestor accipit a principali suo. (Huelsemann.)

In case of necessity, not only a pastor but also the lay elders of any particular congregation can ordain others, because the power to ordain does not inhere in one member of the church — the bishop, for instance — after the manner of a skill and character permanently attaching to him, but after the manner of a transfer and a transitory power, such as an attorney or an agent has from his principal.

60. Ubicunque adhuc aliqua Deo colligitur et conservatur ecclesia, ibi per impositionem manuum presbyterii et publicas ecclesiae preces collata ordinatio pro rata habenda ac proinde non est iteranda, quamvis ipsum presbyterium sive ministerium illius ecclesiae non sit undiquaque purum et ab omnibus erroribus liberum. (Gerhard.)

Wherever God still gathers and preserves a church, there the ordination given through the laying on of the hands of the presbytery and with the public prayers of the church is to be held valid and therefore not to be repeated, even though the presbytery or ministry of that church itself is not in every point pure and free from all errors.

61. Wir bekennen, daß im Pabstthum die rechte heilige Schrift sei, rechte Taufe, recht Sacrament des Altars, rechte Schlüssel zur Vergebung der Sünde, recht Predigtamt. (Luther.)

We confess that in the papacy there is the true Holy Scripture, true Baptism, the true Sacrament of the Altar, the true keys for the forgiveness of sin, the true preaching office. (Luther.)