# Der Lutheraner_St. Louis Missouri_1845 07 12_S89
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

Der Lutheraner.

"God's Word and Luther's teaching shall never, now or ever, pass away."

Edited by C. F. W. Walther.

2——

Volume 1.

St. Louis, Mo., July 12, 1845.

No. 23.

Terms: The Lutheraner appears once every two weeks, for a subscription price of one dollar and twenty-five cents for out-of-town subscribers, half of which must be paid in advance, with postage to be borne by them. — In St. Louis, each single issue is sold for six and a quarter cents.

The Christian's Highest and Greatest Treasure Is God's Dear Word.

(Dr. Luther, in his exposition of Psalm 23.)

We are to learn from this psalm that we should not despise God's Word, but gladly hear and learn it, hold it dear and precious, and join ourselves to the little flock wherever it is found, and again flee and avoid those who blaspheme and persecute it. For where this blessed light does not shine, there is neither fortune nor salvation, neither strength nor comfort for body and soul, but only strife, terror, and dismay, especially when tribulation, anguish, and bitter death are present. This should warn and move us to esteem nothing on earth higher or more precious than this very blessing: that one may have this dear, blessed Word and live in a place where one may freely and openly teach and confess it. Therefore a Christian who belongs to a church in which God's Word is taught should, as often as he enters it, remember this psalm, and with the prophet thank God with a joyful heart for His unspeakable grace, that He has set him as His sheep in a green, pleasant meadow, where there is abundance of rich grass and fresh water, so that he may be in a place where he can hear and learn God's Word and draw from it rich comfort for both body and soul. The mad and blind world knows nothing at all of this treasure and precious pearl; it thinks only like a sow and an unreasoning beast, of how it may fill its belly, or at best it follows false doctrine and hypocrisy, letting truth and faith go. Therefore it will indeed remain with the little flock that they recognize such a blessing and, together with the prophet, sing to God a psalm and hymn of praise for it. But what do you say of those who cannot have the preaching of God's Word, such as those who live under tyrants and enemies of the truth? It is true that where God's Word is preached, it cannot pass without fruit, as Isaiah says: The word that goes out of my mouth shall not return to me empty. So the devout Christians in such places also have an advantage that is truly dear to them. For Christians count it a very great thing when they can be in a place where God's Word is freely and openly taught and confessed, and the sacraments are administered according to Christ's command. But such places are sown very thin; the false Christians are always far more numerous than the devout. That same great crowd asks nothing after God's Word, does not even recognize it as a blessing that they can hear it without any harm or danger, but soon grow full and weary of it, and reckon it rather a burden that they must hear it and receive the holy sacrament. Those, on the other hand, who must suffer under tyrants cry out for it day and night with great longing, and if there comes to them but a small little crumb of our bread, which Christ has distributed to us so abundantly, they receive it with great joy and thanksgiving and make it very profitable to themselves. Whereas our swine, having the blessed bread abundantly, and many whole baskets full of crumbs, cannot even bear the smell of it for its abundance — indeed, they push it about with their snouts, root about in it, trample it underfoot, and run right over it. So this, in short, is my answer to this question concerning those who live under tyrants: blessed are they, whether scattered among the Turks or the pope, who are deprived of the Word and yet would gladly have it with all their heart, and meanwhile accept with thanks the crumbs that may fall to them, until it is better once. But if they are not far from the places where God's Word is preached and the holy sacrament administered according to Christ's command, they may well travel there and make use of this treasure, as indeed many do, and are punished for it in body and goods by their godless authorities. But if they live far from such places, let them not cease to sigh after it; our Lord Christ will surely hear their sighing and in time turn their captivity. Again: unhappy, and unhappy once more, are those who have this treasure abundantly at their very door and yet despise it! — Ponder earnestly, you Lutherans, on these excellent words of Dr. Luther!

Knowing Christ as a Gift and as an Example.
Dr. Luther's Preface to the Church Postil.

The chief article and foundation of the Gospel is that you receive and recognize Christ as a gift and present given to you by God and belonging to you, so that when you see or hear that he does or suffers something, you do not doubt that Christ himself, with such doing and suffering, is yours — so that you may rely on it no less than if you yourself had done it, indeed, as if you were that very Christ. Behold, this is what it means to know the Gospel rightly; this is the overflowing goodness of God, which no prophet, no apostle, no angel has ever been able fully to express, no heart has ever sufficiently marveled at or comprehended. This is the great fire of God's love toward us, by which the heart and conscience become glad, secure, and content. This is what it means to preach the Christian faith, and such preaching is therefore called Gospel, which in German means as much as a good, joyful, comforting message, of which Isaiah says (9:6): A child is born to us, a son is given to us. If he is given to us, then he must be ours, and we must also receive him as our own. And Romans 8: How shall he not also give us all things with his Son? Behold, when you thus grasp Christ as a gift given to you as your own, and do not doubt it, then you are a Christian; faith redeems you from sin, death, and hell, and causes you to overcome all things. Ah, no one can ever speak enough of this; hence the complaint that such preaching is passed over in silence in the world, while the Gospel is praised every day.

Now when you thus have Christ as the foundation and chief good of your salvation, then follows the second part: that you also take him as an example, giving yourself likewise to serve your neighbor, just as you see that he has given himself to you. Behold, there faith and love go hand in hand, God's commandment is fulfilled, and man does and suffers all things joyfully and undaunted. For note well: Christ, as a gift, nourishes your faith and makes you a Christian. But Christ, as an example, exercises your works; these do not make you a Christian, but rather they proceed from you as one already made a Christian. As far as gift and example differ from one another, so far also do faith and works differ. Faith has nothing of its own, but only Christ's work and life. Works have something of your own in them, but they are not yet to be your own — rather, they are to belong to your neighbor.

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