# Der Lutheraner_St. Louis Missouri_1845 11 01_S17
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

Der Lutheraner.

"God's Word and Luther's teaching shall pass away neither now nor ever more."

Published by C. F. W. Walther.

Volume 2.

St. Louis, Mo., November 1, 1845.

Terms: Der Lutheraner appears once every two weeks, at a subscription price of one dollar for out-of-town subscribers, half of which is to be paid in advance, with postage to be borne by them. — In St. Louis, each individual issue is sold for 5 cents.

Recollections from the Time of the Reformation.

How Bugenhagen Came to Know the Truth.

When Johann Bugenhagen — born 1485 at Wollin in Pomerania, who later became Luther's confessor and an important instrument in advancing the Reformation — was still rector of the school at Treptow and still mired in papal darkness, he was once, toward the end of the year 1520, invited as a guest, together with his colleagues, by the church inspector there, Otto Slutovius. Shortly before, Slutovius had received Luther's tract "On the Babylonian Captivity of the Church" under the papacy from a good friend in Leipzig. This tract was then shown to the guests at table, and Bugenhagen's judgment on it was especially sought. He read a few pages of it hastily during the meal, and soon after broke out with the words: "Since the Savior of the world suffered, many heretics have indeed troubled the church and attacked it harshly, but none has done it so badly as this Luther." Yet Bugenhagen could not help taking the book home with him to read it through in full. And what happens? The further he reads into it, the more his eyes are opened; deeply moved, he therefore goes, a few days later, once more into the company of his colleagues, and, stepping in among them and holding out Luther's book to them, cries: "What need have I to say much to you? The whole world is blind and lies in great darkness. This one man alone sees what is true." Those assembled hear this with dismay; a lively discussion arises, Bugenhagen defends the tract point by point, and behold! in a short time he has brought most of them — the abbot himself among them — around to his view, so that from then on they begin, together with him, to expose the pope's abominations publicly to the people and to point them to the merit of Christ alone. But when the Bishop of Cammin, Erasmus von Manteuffel (who, however, later also confessed the Augsburg Confession), stirred up harsh persecution against the evangelical confessors, these were scattered, and Bugenhagen, eager to see and hear Luther, went in 1521 to Wittenberg. There he made Luther's acquaintance, shortly before the latter departed for Worms. When Karlstadt thereafter began the iconoclastic riots, Bugenhagen opposed him more zealously than anyone, and was therefore, after Luther's return from the Wartburg, unanimously called by the university and the town council to be pastor at the church in Wittenberg — an office which, besides many important services rendered elsewhere, he held with faithfulness and blessing for thirty-six years.

Mortal Anguish, the True Test of Genuine Comfort.

* —

Duke Johannes, the firstborn son of George, the implacable enemy of Luther, was no less hostile to Luther and his teaching. He therefore once had word sent to Luther through the painter Lucas Cranach: that if his father had been iron against him, Luther, then he himself, once he came into the government, intended to be steel against him. Luther answered, laughing, that he was not in the least worried on his own account, and that it would be far better if Duke Johannes concerned himself with a blessed end than that he entertain such futile thoughts and try, as it were, to storm heaven by force. "For I know," he added, "that he will not live to see his father's death." When Cranach reported this answer to him, Johannes was greatly alarmed, fell into a deep melancholy, and soon after into mortal anguish. Here his father now comforted him with these words: that he should look to Christ alone, the Savior of the world, and forget all his own works as well as the invocation of the saints. When the dying man's wife heard this, she said: "Dear father! Why is this not preached publicly throughout the land?" George answered: "Dear daughter, one should say this only to the dying for their comfort, for if common people were to know that one is saved through Christ alone, they would become altogether too reckless, and would apply themselves to no good works whatever." See, dear reader, the poor man thinks he knows better than dear God himself how to make men godly.

The Dukes George and Henry of Saxony.

Among the ruling princes, as already mentioned, Duke George of Saxony, who resided in Dresden, was one of the fiercest opponents of the Reformation which God, through the ministry of the blessed Luther, brought about three hundred years ago. This George had a brother named Henry, who, residing in Freiberg, held only a very small share of the territory, consisting of no more than two districts. Yet as much poorer as Henry was than George in earthly goods, so much richer was he than George in the knowledge of evangelical truth. And what Henry came to know by God's grace, he also confessed, and therefore sought, in his small little territory, to purge the church as far as possible of the abuses that had crept in. His brother George did indeed also admit to him in letters that such abuses existed, but he asked him to wait to abolish them until a general church council should so decide. But when Henry answered that what God's Word and his own conscience bound him to do he could not postpone until men should have granted him permission, he thereby lost his brother's friendship entirely.

But George finally fell mortally ill in the year 1539 and himself recognized that his end was approaching; and since his only son had died shortly before, he had to fear that, if he took no precautions, his evangelically minded brother Henry would become his successor and would then surely also introduce into his land the Reformation he so hated. George therefore drew up a will according to which Henry should be admitted to govern his share of the territory only on the condition that he renounce the evangelical teaching and remain with the old (papist) religion. At the same time, several councillors were sent to Henry, who were to demand his consent to those conditions. This they did, and in doing so impressed upon the duke what a considerable private fortune his brother would besides leave behind. But Henry answered: "Your offer reminds me…"