This essay was delivered in German by Dr. F. Pieper in 1889 to the Southern District Convention of the Missouri Synod. It was translated and mimeographed by Geo. Schweikert, Okabena, Minnesota and a number of other persons. The original purpose of this translation was to supply Christian guidance to the members of the then Synodical Conference during the 1940s when false doctrine and un-Scriptural practice were threatening to destroy the orthodoxy of the Conference.

The essay presents six Theses:

1. Every man’s first and principal concern should be that he belong to the Communion of Saints, that is, to the Invisible Church;

2. The Divinely ordained external form of the Church is its orthodoxy. Heterodox church bodies have their existence only by God’s permission;

3. It is, therefore, not a matter of indifference which church group a Christian joins, but that he has God’s earnest command strictly to distinguish between orthodox and heterodox churches, and, avoiding all church fellowship with the heterodox, to adhere only to the orthodox church;

4. Likewise, only in the orthodox Church is God given the honor which He requires, and, only in it are souls rightly cared for. Fellowship with heterodox churches militates against God’s honor, and is a constant danger for the soul;

5. We should, therefore, regard membership in the orthodox Church not only as our duty, but also as the greatest privilege and highest honor, even when the orthodox Church outwardly bears a very humble form;

6. The reasons which have been advanced for joining heterodox church bodies and for remaining in them, partly sound very pious; but they are considered in the light of God’s Word, altogether invalid, and originals in our blind, conceited, self-willed, and presumptuous flesh.

The copy presented here has been scanned from the Concordia Historical Institute Franz Pieper Collection, item F.161.