# Lehre und Wehre_St. Louis Missouri_September 1859_S286
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

286 Kirchlich-Zeitgeschichtliches [Church and Contemporary History].

...Mr. Ludwig forgotten the fact that nine-tenths of all the members of the General Synod are Americans? We were not raised as servants of kings and prelates; we were born free, and it is a hard task for us to submit to the commands of men." By this reasoning, then, a free-born American has himself the right to call himself what he is not; he is like that prince who by mistake had said "schismam," and then decreed that from then on, throughout his whole realm, "schisma" should be declined according to the first declension.

The Southern District of the General Ev. Lutheran Synod of Ohio held its first sessions on June 4th and the following days. It arose out of the Indianapolis Synod, founded in 1846, by its entry into the association of the General Synod of Ohio. It was resolved: that this synod has read with joy the protest of several members (of the General Synod) against one of their ministers' participation in secret societies, but views with regret the indecisiveness of the synod as a whole, and wishes and hopes that the individual districts, as well as the General Synod itself, will act more earnestly and decisively. The ministerium resolved: "that the former pastor Friedrich Links, born near Speyer, now pastor of the Ev. Lutheran Trinity congregation on Gabels Creek, Franklin Co., Ind., be declared unfit and unworthy of the further exercise of the holy pastoral office, be removed from his office, have his certificate of ordination annulled, and be required to surrender it to the president." (By this the ministerium claims for itself the right of deposition!) Further: "that the license of the catechist J. J. Wenner not be renewed, because the ministerium is convinced of his incapacity to administer the holy pastoral office," etc. (So the ministerium had, after all, already let someone not yet examined serve.)

A new theological seminary. Members of the Synod of Pennsylvania intend to found a new theological seminary in Allentown, Pa., having become convinced that there is no longer any hope for the cultivation of the German language among the students of the Gettysburg Seminary. B.

The report submitted at the last General Synod on the religious condition of the synods connected with it paints so brilliant, fine, and hopeful a picture of this body that one could only wish it were so. But woe to him who does not join in the jubilation of the "Olive Branch" — he must be a "stupid and dull" Lutheran. The General Synod presently consists of 26 synods, 748 ministers, 1,474 congregations, and is said to have grown by about 30,000 members in the last two years. B.

Both the Lutheran Herald and the Missionary have lent a friendly hand to the aims of the Luther Society. The former has taken its statutes entirely into its columns; the latter has recommended it earnestly and given some good hints, which shall not be allowed to go unheeded. B.

Ausland [Abroad].

Anniversary celebration of the Ev. Lutheran Mission at Leipzig on June 15, 1859. Delegates had gathered from near and far, for example from Petersburg, Dorpat, Hamburg, and Amsterdam. Harless delivered the festival sermon. His theme was: A sign, showing where, in thinking about and working for the mission, our attention must be directed:

1. to the kingdom that has come as leaven without the service of men;
2. to the kingdom that comes as leaven through the service of men;
3. to the manner of human service by which the kingdom of Christ remains what it is — a leaven for the whole world.

The sermon is described as a powerful discourse, in places deeply incisive, gripping every hearer mightily. From the report it may be seen that 14 European missionaries and more than 100 individual teachers, candidates, and catechists are working in India, and that 4,661 converted souls are found among the Tamils. This year's income amounted to 32,000 thalers. The Mission Seminary at Leipzig now has 12 students. Regarding the organization of the mission itself, three things deserve mention, which in the past year