LCMS Convention Proceedings St. Louis, Missouri — 1989, Page 87

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88 OTHER PRESENTATIONS

This was the firm resolve of our fathers in Christ who
began Concordia Seminary and a few years later organized
themselves into what is today The Lutheran Church—Mis-
souri Synod. That’s why the school was started. Just 11
months after the settlers landed in Perry County, the little
log cabin school opened its doors. The early days were dif-
ficult indeed. In just four years the four founders were
gone. There was sickness and disease and poverty. Their
leader had to be deposed. Spiritual doubts gnawed away
at the very vitals of the community. But it endured. And
for 150 years it has had no other aim than to educate and
train men for the ministry, men who with their sheep and
lambs would proclaim to others the praises of God.

That devotion to proclaiming the praises of God is seen
in more than in the founding of the seminary. Let us be
done with the old idea that these people sat around guard-
ing their orthodoxy. To read the history of the Reisepre-
diger, for example, is to read a chronicle of grand heroism
for the sake of the Gospel and for the sake of Gospel proc-
lamation. They forded streams, slept under the stars, suf-
fered separation and every kind of deprivation, they
endured cold and heat, sickness and death so that they
might proclaim to them Jesus Christ and Him crucified.
They shame us who today often seem so unwilling to suffer
anything, who seem so intent on our own honor, comfort,
and ease. Here were men, women and children, who saw
their task as God’s special people to tell everyone what He
has done.

And this must be our resolve as well, to bring the Light
for our world to our world. At this convention we consider
many questions dealing with structure, finances, com-
munications, and now with the new “in word,” networking.
Good and well—nothing wrong with that. But all must
serve this task. And this is not something forced upon us,

something we are called to do against our will. This is our
privilege and joy as those washed in the blood of the Lamb
and brought to the Light that we might proclaim His
praise.

Let me close with words spoken by Dr. Walther at the
1848 convention of the Synod. They combine so well an
appreciation and concern for the Gospel light with the as-
surance of success in bringing that Light to our world. He
said, “Let us above all ... be concerned about this, that
the pure doctrine of our dear Evangelical Lutheran Church
may become known more and more completely among us,
that it may be in vogue among all our congregations, and
that it may be preserved from all adulteration and held
fast as the most precious treasure. Let us not surrender
one iota of the demands of the Word. Let us bring about
its complete rule in our congregations and set aside noth-
ing of it, even though for this reason things may happen
to us, as God wills. Here let us be inflexible, here let us be
adamant. If we do this, we need not worry about the suc-
cess of our labor. Even though it should seem to be in vain,
it cannot then be in vain, for the Word does not return void
but prospers in the things whereto the Lord sent it. By the
Word alone, without any other power, the church was
founded; by the Word alone all the great deeds recorded
in church history were accomplished; by the Word alone
the church will most assuredly stand also in these days of
sore distress, to the end of days. Even the gates of hell will
not prevail against it. ‘For all flesh is as grass, and all the
glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth,
and the flower thereof falleth away; but the Word of the
Lord endureth forever.’” AMEN.

Soli Deo Gloria!

Kar] Barth, D.D.

2. Address of the Former President of the Synod

Dr. Bohlmann, members of the convention, and friends:

First, permit me to congratulate Drs. Bohlmann and
Mennicke on their reelection as President and First Vice-
President. Let’s support them with our prayers and good
words.

Thad not intended to attend this convention. I have been
at every convention since 1962, and General MacArthur’s
words, “Old soldiers never die; they just fade away” apply
to old synodical presidents and other old synodical officers.
But certain old friends convinced me to attend, and when
Mr. Gerber of Concordia Publishing House informed me
that Martin Chemnitz’s Loci Theologici on which my dear
wife, Delpha, and I had been working much of the time
since I retired, was going to be unveiled at this convention,
I began to have second thoughts.

Now Martin Chemnitz is not some shadowy figure out
of the past, but a man whom the LCMS should put right
up next to Luther and Walther. He can properly be called
the father of normative Lutheran theology, the father of
Lutheran orthodoxy, and most important of all for a church
which constantly talks about the Scripture and Lutheran

Confessions, he is a primary author of our beloved confes-
sional writing, the Formula of Concord of 1580. The For-
mula of Concord is important to us at this convention
because it was a uniting and unifying document, signed
by 8,000 Lutheran clergymen (more than have ever signed
any document in our history) and the only Confession ever
adopted at the grassroots level at the time of its adoption.
The Formula is especially important to our Synod because
it dealt with problems within the Lutheran family which
had arisen in the 35 years since Luther’s death. The three
chief culprits were Melanchthon who erred on the Lord’s
Supper and conversion, Osiander who ran afoul regarding
justification, and John Agricola who denied the Third Use
of the Law. Yet none are mentioned in the Formula by
name; there are no personal attacks. Chemnitz and his
coworkers dealt with issues, not personalities. There was
more effort to honor the First Commandment than to frac-
ture the Eighth.

Now it is just exactly 20 years ago that I was elected
president of the LCMS, and the situation was not unlike
that of the period of the Formula of Concord—brother