# Der Lutheraner_St. Louis Missouri_1845 08 03_S100
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

ask why, then, do you call the Church to which alone you wish to be reckoned "Lutheran"? Do you not thereby prove clearly, by this human name, that you are shutting yourselves off as a particular sect? — We answer: we did not give ourselves this name. When Luther arose 300 years ago and brought the doctrine of the ancient, apostolic, Christian Church again to light, it was the enemies who called all those who accepted and confessed this pure doctrine "Lutherans," in order thereby to insult them. This name has now, little by little, become so common and current that the orthodox Christians have finally had to accept it for these 300 years, just as those living in the fourth century had to accept the name "Athanasians." The name "Lutheran" therefore does not designate the object of our faith, as the name "Christian" does (since we do not believe in Luther, as we believe in Christ); it is merely a name of distinction, by which we wish only to distinguish ourselves from all false believers and to confess ourselves to the orthodox universal Church, whose doctrine was preached by Luther and laid down, and confessed before all the world, in the so-called Evangelical Lutheran symbols [confessional writings].

When, therefore, we maintain that the Lutheran Church is the one holy Christian Church, we mean by this that the doctrine and the faith which is carried in the heart and confessed with the mouth by true Lutherans is no other doctrine and no other faith than the doctrine and faith of the universal Christian Church, and that no other doctrine is Christ's doctrine, and that no other faith makes a person blessed. Now if, at such statements, the gentlemen of the Evangelical and Methodist persuasions, like the high priest at Jerusalem, tear their garments over the blasphemy they imagine they find in them, that changes nothing whatsoever in the matter; they only reveal thereby that they cannot, in good conscience, say that they have the one true doctrine and the one true faith. Prove, gentlemen, that the doctrine which the true Lutherans have confessed in their public confessions contradicts the Word of God and is not the voice of Christ and his Church, and you will have won your case. But if you set a thousand exclamation points and question marks against our statements, that will not help you at all, for it proves nothing — just as the name "Evangelical" does not prove that your doctrine of sweet and sour feelings is the Gospel and the true doctrine of justification.

If, moreover, we had ever anywhere asserted — as Mr. Nollau imputes to us — that the whole Lutheran Church, to which alone we confess ourselves, is the party which has stood for 300 years, calling itself Lutheran, possessing particular ceremonies, and taking the Augsburg Confession or all the Lutheran symbols as its trade name and declaring them its church law, then our opponents might well, with justice, scold us as sectarians, and say that we are quarreling over a merely human name. But we are not quarreling over a name, as we are incessantly and nauseatingly accused of doing, but over a great matter of unspeakable importance, which, to be sure, like all things in the world, also has a name. We are not contending for a peculiarly constituted party that calls itself Lutheran. Our goal is not to bring it about that all Christians adopt a so-called Lutheran church order and Lutheran

100

ceremonies, assemble together into a Lutheran synod, call themselves Lutheran, and bind themselves to the Lutheran symbols, whether from the heart or only deceitfully; no, we are not fighting for an external edifice with a Lutheran signboard. The object of our struggle is nothing other than the right faith, the pure truth, the unadulterated Gospel, the genuine foundation of the apostles and prophets, of which Jesus Christ is the cornerstone — that is, the treasure that was entrusted to the true Church of all ages, which it has preserved for us throughout all the centuries, often at the cost of shedding streams of its blood, and which is now entrusted to us as well. Where a Lutheran constitution is indeed legally recognized, everything is stamped with the Lutheran name, and a fellowship is given entirely the external form of a Lutheran church, but where the pure, unadulterated, apostolic doctrine — the only doctrine that saves — is not preached and accepted, there we recognize just as little a Lutheran, that is, a true, church, as we do where everything is founded on Evangelical, Reformed, Methodist, etc., principles; we regard false teachers who bear the Lutheran name as no more our brothers in the faith than the worst slanderers of the Lutheran name, while we feel ourselves most intimately bound in brotherhood of faith to all the children of God, in whatever sect they may happen to be held captive.

Let us now briefly repeat once more what we have said here. There is only One Church, which always has the same doctrine and the same faith. This one doctrine, to be sure, had not perished under the papacy, but it had become almost entirely unrecognizable, since from the public preaching office the pure doctrine of the Gospel was preached almost nowhere, but almost everywhere only human doctrine was preached. But God had mercy on his Christendom and raised up and equipped his servant Luther, not, as Mr. Saxer says, for the shattering, but for the reformation, of his Church. Luther, namely, sought out again the ancient doctrine of the true Christian Church from God's Word and brought it to light. He did not found a new church, nor a special party within the Christian Church, but he himself remained with the ancient, apostolic Church, and called out loudly that everyone should return to this Church and remain with it. Whoever, however, from that time on accepted the ancient Christian doctrine of the Word of God was then reviled as a Lutheran; thus one understands by "Lutheran doctrine and Church" nothing other than the apostolic doctrine and Church. There are, to be sure, many parties in Christendom which all wish to be true Christian churches, but because they are not obedient to the Gospel (Romans 10:16) and have all separated themselves from the universal Christian Church through false doctrine, and stubbornly persist in this separation, they are not true churches, but sects or false-believing fellowships. For in the true Church the obedience of faith is established (Romans 1:5); it therefore never persists stubbornly in an error, but listens to the voice of its shepherd.

The false believers, to be sure, do not wish to grant to the Lutherans that they alone publicly confess the true catholic*) doctrine and therefore belong to no sect; but they have never yet proven that the Lutherans, in any article of their symbolical writings, teach against the holy catholic Christian Church; nor can they prove it.

Rejoice, therefore, dear reader, if you belong to a purely Lutheran congregation, and confess the pure Lutheran doctrine not only with your mouth, but also carry it in your heart through true faith; for then you belong to no sect, neither outwardly nor inwardly, but to the ancient Church that abides forever, to which all the prophets, apostles, martyrs, and all upright Christians still belong even now, and which becomes visible wherever the Gospel is preached purely and clearly and the Holy Sacraments are administered according to Christ's institution — though for the most part it lies hidden among heretics and sects. Thank God that he has also preserved you from the outward fellowship of the sects; for even though many souls are also saved within them — those in whose hearts the false doctrine of their sect does not take a strong hold — they are nevertheless in great danger of still being led astray. Guard yourself also against the thought that, since one can be saved in any place, it must therefore be a matter of indifference whether one outwardly holds to a sect or to the little flock of the orthodox; consider that those who are saved within the sects are simple souls who, from a weakness of understanding, do not see through their false prophets, and who are preserved and kept by Christ's wonderful grace. If, therefore, someone who has recognized the truth were nevertheless to profess himself among the heterodox, he would, as an apostate denier of the truth, not be saved, but would certainly be eternally damned. Finally, take care, dear Lutheran Christian, that you are not deceived by the name "Lutheran"; for just as many call themselves Christians and are not, so also many now call themselves Lutherans — that is, orthodox — and yet are false prophets, who bear the Lutheran name only so that they may lead the poor little sheep astray, under this sheep's clothing, into their false doctrine and fanaticism. Consider, therefore, that you find a Lutheran congregation only where the ancient, pure doctrine of the universal Christian Church is preached and accepted, as you find it in God's clear Word, and in summary in your Lutheran catechism, in the unaltered Augsburg Confession, and in the other symbolical books of the Lutheran Church. Wherever you meet a little flock that confesses this doctrine, hold fast to it; there enjoy together the sweet pasture of the pure Gospel; there let yourself be led to Jesus, and be kept with him in true faith; there strive and suffer together; so will you here strive and suffer for Christ's holy Church, and thus for the spread of his kingdom, for the honor of his name, for the truth of his Word, and for the salvation of your fellow redeemed. But do not grow weary in this struggle; rather, be faithful unto death, and you will one day also receive the crown of life, and, through a blessed death, pass over from the militant congregation of believers into the triumphant Church of the perfected righteous. To this end may the merciful God at last help us all, in this last, troubled time. Amen.

The further answer to Mr. N.'s tract will follow, God willing, at a later time.

*) Let the reader not take offense at the word "catholic." This word has a twofold meaning: first, a good one, in which it means as much as "universally Christian"; but then one also often understands by it those who belong to the Pope, for these have given themselves this fine title. Let the reader therefore note that we take the word "catholic" here in its good sense.

Printed by Weber and Olshausen.