# Der Lutheraner_St. Louis Missouri_1845 07 26_S96
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

Where does anything stand here that could have led him to think that we believed the historical phenomenon, observable for three hundred years, of a certain circumscribed ecclesiastical party which has been derisively called Lutheran, to be the whole Lutheran Church, to which alone we confess, and outside of which no salvation and no blessedness is to be found? How could Mr. N., in the face of those declarations of ours, arrive at the notion that it is only out of "cunning" that we count the Christians among the sects as belonging to the Lutheran Church? Could he really not see that this follows so necessarily from our whole doctrine of the Church that, were this single part of it given up, the whole edifice of doctrine we have set forth would have to collapse? There is no doubt whatever that Mr. N. conceives of the Church as an external institution, and therefore looks for such a delusion in us as well; he does indeed at first concede that there is only One true Church, which is invisible, but then he abandons this sound thought again and speaks of a multitude of visible true churches; hence he credits us too with such a hodgepodge. Mr. N. does not confess to the one universal Christian Church alone, but rather picks out for himself, from among all the so-called churches, the one that in his opinion is the best — namely the new "Evangelical" one — just as one picks the finest-cut coat out of a clothing store; hence he expects from us that same indifferentist, sectarian outlook.

But we ask Mr. N. further: where does it stand written in Der Lutheraner that the Lutheran Church is a saving church? — Only the most irresponsible, most unscrupulous eagerness to make us suspect and to slander us could embolden Mr. N. (following the lead of "Theophilus" and the "Apologete") to impute this papist doctrine to us so brazenly, without shame or reticence. Mr. N. does seem to want to say of his own church that it saves (p. 20) — only not alone; but where have we said that? What we do maintain is that one is saved only in the true Church, but this means nothing other than that we are saved only through true faith in Christ, which of course one has only in the true Church. It is therefore likewise one of the many untruths which Mr. N. has spread through his little book, that he puts into our mouths the admission that people are saved even outside our one true Church; where have we written even a single word of this in Der Lutheraner? We have indeed admitted that many true Christians may be outwardly connected with a sect, and that countless people surely do not belong to the outward body of those who call themselves Lutheran; but have we not clearly taught that all these true Christians nonetheless inwardly belong to the spiritual body of the true Church? Have we not clearly declared that when we call ourselves Lutherans, we thereby confess not to any new church, but to the one, old, Christian Church, which always has one and the same

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doctrine, namely the truth, to which all true Christians of every age and land have belonged and still belong, and which consists precisely in the totality of all the children of God? — Where, further, do we say that those belong to the true Church who "lie in spiritual death"? Do we not say, on the contrary, that only the regenerate can be members of the true Church? — Where, finally, have we declared that one must believe in the Church? We know quite well that to believe in something means to place one's trust in it. From this we can see that Mr. N. would like to bring us into the reputation of making the Church our God, or rather our idol;* and so he does not even shrink, on p. 57, from imputing to us the notion that we "set the Church above Christianity." When we insist on not forsaking the Church, this is a call not to forsake or deny Christ, the pure gospel, the truth, the doctrine of the universal Christian Church. — In the next number we shall finally show in what sense we understand by the Lutheran Church nothing other than the one, old, true, universal, apostolic, Christian Church.
(To be continued.)

* Whoever is charged with believing "in" the Church is thereby made a fellow believer with the Arians and the Jesuits. For it is well known from Socrates and Sozomen that the Arians, too, once wrote in their confession of faith: "We believe also in a catholic Church." They did this cunningly, so that they could also say, "We believe in Christ," although they did not hold him to be true God. In that falsification of the apostolic creed the Jesuits have followed the Arians. This was done, for example, by a Jesuit missionary who published a tract under the following title: "The General Apostolic Article of Faith: I believe in a holy, apostolic, and catholic Church. An apostolic pronouncement that leaves neither the Catholic in doubt of his faith nor the non-Catholic in doubt of his error; presented in the apostolic missions by Father Adamo Flotto, priest of the Society of Jesus, printed with the permission of his superiors. Augsburg and Munich. 1729."

The General Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of North America.

In the "Lutherische Hirtenstimme" of July 1 of this year, there appears the continuation of an excerpt from the proceedings of the thirteenth biennial session of the above-named body. In this excerpt we read, among other things, the following: "Pastor Wyneken of Baltimore spoke out on several occasions against the doctrine and practices, the books and periodicals, of the Lutheran Church, and threatened to testify against them. The synod good-naturedly listened to this facetious motion, and laid it on the table."

This report seeks to make readers believe that Pastor Wyneken has become an enemy of the Lutheran Church, whereas in fact all friends of this Church look to him hopefully as a courageous witness on its behalf.

We can, however, assure our readers from good sources that the above report has been drawn up falsely. Pastor Wyneken has, namely, not spoken against the doctrine, etc., of the Lutheran Church as such, but against the false doctrine, etc., which is being spread by the members of the aforementioned General Synod as Lutheran doctrine.

From what is true in the report, the gentle reader can moreover see what spirit prevails in the so-called General Synod. For granted that it were as pure in doctrine as St. Paul, still the distinction between pure and false doctrine must be nothing but a joke to it; for when a witness comes forward against it who accuses it of false doctrine, it does not answer for itself as our most praised Savior himself, and all the prophets and apostles, and all upright servants of Christ and his Church have done, but instead finds such testimony merely "facetious," lays the written challenge on the table, and speaks either scornfully with Pilate, "What is truth?," or, as the dictatorial power of the Lutheran Church, with that song:

We alone hold the right and the might,
What we decree shall stand as law —
Who is there to be our master?

The Nature of Faith.

That some do not understand how faith alone justifies is because they do not know what faith is, and have never experienced it, but imagine instead that faith is a quality hidden away in the soul. But when the Word of God resounds — which is the truth — and the heart holds fast to the Word through faith, then the heart is filled with the truth of the Word and made certain by the Word of truth. It is as when one holds a cold piece of wood to a glowing iron: it is kindled by the iron and begins to burn. So too when the heart is thus filled with the Word, soon all its powers and members are likewise transformed. For whatever the heart does, all the members do as well, inclining wherever the heart inclines, be it good or evil. And thus it is reckoned to a person as righteousness for the sake of faith in the Word. — Luther, Works, Halle edition, XIX, 1736.

Examine, then, dear reader, how faith is commonly preached nowadays, and you will find that most describe it as nothing other than "a quality hidden in the soul." For renewal and sanctification, which are a fruit of faith, are here confused with justification; that the essence of faith consists in holding fast to the Word is something one now seldom hears at all. Be watchful, therefore, dear reader, that you are not deceived. Many nowadays speak much of faith and yet do not preach faith at all.

Printed by Weber and Olshausen.