# Lehre und Wehre_St. Louis Missouri_M rz 1864_S92
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

92   Church-Related Contemporary Affairs.

An ugly, but no doubt correctly framed, dilemma. But when the Roman writer, in that same essay, also says: "At the outset, amid many contradictions, the episcopate" (naturally in the Roman sense) "is granted, in the Augsburg Confession, its divine right and origin; but in the Smalcald Articles the bishops, together with the Pope, are called 'apostles of the devil,'" then he too has placed himself in a similar dilemma: either to retract this, or to renounce all claim to logical thought.

Sad but true it is, writes the Kirchenzeitung of Columbus, "that the present Congress in Washington has chosen for itself, as chaplain, a Unitarian (a denier of Christ, that is, a heathen). Surely also a sign of the times."

From the Proceedings of the 34th Convention of the Evangelical Lutheran Synod of Virginia. Under this title the "Lutheran and Missionary" of February 4 of this year gives an excerpt, taken from the "Southern Lutheran," of the previous year's synodical report of the said synod, some of which we believe we ought to communicate to our readers, since surely any news from this territory of the church, so cut off from us, will be of great interest. It reads: "In accordance with previous arrangement, the Evangelical Lutheran Synod of Virginia assembled on Thursday evening, October 22, 1863, in Salem's Church, Augusta County, Virginia. The opening sermon was delivered by the president of the synod, Rev. L. Keller, on 1 Corinthians 11:2. On account of the unsettled conditions of the country, only a few pastors were present; but those who were present seemed to feel their responsibility and acted accordingly in the deliberations of the synod. — A special committee on speculation and extortion introduced the following resolutions, which were adopted:

1) Resolved: That our holy Christian religion, while it does not forbid the lawful conduct of honest trade nor in any way cripple industry, does, in our conviction, bear a most unambiguous testimony against greed as idolatry and against extortion as a crime against the noblest interests of society and as a violation of the divine law.

2) Resolved: That, while we cannot lay down a rule going into particulars to govern the conscience of each individual with respect to trade and exchange, since prices always and of necessity regulate themselves according to the unalterable laws of commerce arising from the mutual relation of supply and demand, we nevertheless recognize it as a duty incumbent upon us to raise a warning voice to those entrusted to our spiritual care against the most pernicious inclination toward "covetousness, as a root of all evil."

3) Resolved: That, in order to heal this evil by the shortest and most effective way, we will preach to our people on this subject and deal with them about it from house to house, convinced that an earnest application of the Word of God is the only sufficient remedy for this and all other evils.

From the reports of some of the brethren we perceive that the more vital spiritual interests of our Zion have suffered to no small degree through the particular situation and circumstances of our afflicted country. Love has grown cold in many, and in their lukewarmness they have become the easy prey of the prevailing temptations and dangerous deceptions of the time, and "went the way of Cain and fell into the error of Balaam for the sake of gain." To the particular aberrations of their hearts, namely speculation and extortion, we have already referred sufficiently above. Nevertheless, many of the brethren also present a brighter and more gratifying picture. The liberality and general charitableness of our people, too, are visibly improving. — For these and other signs of divine grace in the midst of the well-deserved chastisements that are falling to our lot, we owe our humble thanks to the great Head of the church.

With regard to the formation of the General Synod and our connection with it, the following resolutions were adopted:

1) Resolved: That the General Synod so formed has our approval, provided that, through our delegates, concerning its constitution and its acceptance of the Augsburg Confession