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The Schleitheim
Text
Brotherly Union
of a number of children of God concerning Seven Articles
(Brüderlich Vereinigung
etzlicher Kinder Gottes seiben Artikel betreffend . . . )
Translated and edited by John Howard Yoder, The Legacy of
Michael Sattler, Herald Press, 1973
Article V. We have been united as follows
concerning shepherds in the church of God.
We have been united as follows concerning shepherds in the church
of God. The shepherd in the church shall be a person according
to the rule of Paul, [68]
fully and completely, who has a good report of those who are
outside the faith. The office of such a person shall be to read
and exhort and teach, warn, admonish, or ban in the congregation,
and properly to preside among the sisters and brothers in prayer,
and in the breaking of bread, [69]
and in all things to take care of the body of Christ, that it
may be built up and developed, so that the name of God might
be praised and honored through us, and the mouth of the mocker
be stopped.
He shall be supported, wherein
he has need, by the congregation which has chosen him, so that
he who serves the gospel can also live therefrom, as the Lord
has ordered (1 Cor. 9:14).[70]
But should a shepherd do something worthy of reprimand, nothing
shall be done with him without the voice of two or three witnesses.
If they sin they shall be publicly reprimanded, so that others
might fear. [71]
But if the shepherd should be
driven away or led to the Lord by the cross [72]
at the same hour another shall be ordained [73]
to his place, so that the little folk and the little flock of
God may not be destroyed, but be preserved by warning and be
consoled.
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