# Lehre und Wehre_St. Louis Missouri_November 1859_S337
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

From the General Synod. 337

Our Wisconsin brethren wished to know whether we were sound in the faith (that is, whether we stood on the "unaltered Augsburg Confession" and were confessional believers of the right sort), so that their Lutheranism would not suffer thereby if they were to work with us for the institution at Springfield. They were heard at length in their mother tongue, and while they declared that they had no doubts as to our sincerity as Christian preachers, they were not so clearly and firmly convinced regarding our Lutheranism, etc. Some of our good confessional friends assured them, however, that we thought quite rightly on this point, that we stood on the "unaltered Augsburg Confession," etc., etc., and that there could therefore be no difficulty. This called the American brethren into action, who, with very few exceptions, were not quite so ready to declare their unconditional acceptance of the "unaltered Augsburg Confession," and when the right to insert a conditioning clause into the constitution was denied them, they showed something of the spirit of '76 and at last submitted the following petition:

Since the membership of the Evangelical Lutheran Synod of North Illinois has become so large that it is almost impossible for the members of the synod, during a meeting of the synod, to find lodging, even in our largest congregations; and since the doctrinal basis of the Synod of Northern Illinois with respect to the Augsburg Confession has gradually been so altered that it differs essentially from what it was when this synod was organized in the year 1851; and since it lies plainly before our eyes that harmony and brotherly love cannot be maintained among the various members of the synod: we, the undersigned, most respectfully and fraternally request the synod to grant us an honorable discharge from this body, in order to form a new Evangelical Lutheran synod. In making this request, however, we wish to express our regret that we feel compelled by our conscience to take this step; yet we hope and pray that a brotherly intercourse between us and the Synod of Northern Illinois may continue to exist.

C. B. Thummel.   Wm. Uhl.   John M. Lingle.
George Hammer.   John L. Guard.   Charles Young.
N. G. Stroth.   J. Fulmer.   D. S. Altman.

This petition was not granted; instead the committee for the revision of the constitution was instructed to insert the following compromise resolution into the preamble of the said document:

Resolved, that it is well known and definitely acknowledged that among us there is not complete agreement on all the lesser points of doctrine and practice, and that while we guarantee to one another the most complete and fullest freedom of conscience and of word as well as of deed, we do not hold the other members bound to the same doctrinal views, if