# Der Lutheraner_St. Louis Missouri_1845 11 29_S25
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

Der Lutheraner.

"God's Word and Luther's teaching shall now and nevermore pass away."

Published by C. F. W. Walther.

Volume 2.

St. Louis, Mo., November 29, 1845.

No. 7.

Terms: Der Lutheraner appears once every two weeks, at the subscription price of one dollar for out-of-town subscribers, half of which they must pay in advance, and they must also bear the postage. — In St. Louis each single issue is sold for 5 cents.

The False Doctrine of the Methodists Concerning Justification, Demonstrated from Their Church Order.
(Conclusion.)

The second main point from which the same [error] can be demonstrated against them is this: they turn human ordinances into commandments of God and bind the conscience with them. I do not speak here of good human regulations which are not made with the intention that they are necessary for salvation, but which have as their sole purpose the maintenance of good Christian discipline, order, peace, and unity; for these one should indeed keep for conscience's sake, not as though salvation depended on them, but because their transgression tears apart Christian love and unity. I am not speaking here of such things, but solely of those ordinances that are set up as a necessary form of worship, and by which the conscience is bound in such a way that people are required to keep these ordinances not merely for the sake of love of neighbor, but for the sake of the soul's salvation. And of this we find various examples in the church order of the Methodists.

On p. 44 preachers are enjoined: "change nothing in our rules, but keep them — not out of fear, but for conscience's sake"; and on p. 45: "In all things act not according to your own will, but as a son in the gospel. As such you are obligated to use your time in the manner prescribed by us," and so forth. But these prescriptions concerning the use of time are evidently nothing but human commandments; for according to p. 59 they include the punctual observance of the hours set aside in the evening and morning for secret prayer, the reading of the Bible at a specified time (does this not involuntarily call to mind the Catholic breviary?), the receiving of the Holy Supper as often as opportunity offers, weekly fasting, the restriction of conversation with others to no longer than one hour, and the like. And the preacher is to keep all these prescriptions for conscience's sake as commandments of God, for he is, as they put it, "obligated thereto, as a son in the gospel."

Hence on p. 46 the preacher is confronted with the pointed question: "Will you keep the rules for preachers for conscience's sake?" Although a good deal might be said against the expediency of these rules, considered merely as human regulations, I will leave that question aside. Many rules and prescriptions, even inexpedient ones, can be borne and tolerated for love's sake; but that they are raised to the status of divine commandments and thereby entangle the conscience is in no way to be tolerated; for it does injury to Christian freedom, contends against justification by faith alone, and is a tempting of God. Acts 15:10. Yet it is not only the preachers but the people in general upon whom such bonds of conscience are laid. On p. 96, among the sins that bring down "the wrath to come" upon us, the following are also listed: the drinking of spirituous liquors,*) except in case of necessity; reading books that do not have the knowledge and love of God as their purpose; compare with this p. 106. And to give these commandments all the more emphasis, they are on p. 106 even derived from the faith that overcomes the world. If the world-overcoming faith is capable of nothing higher than this, then it is indeed poor enough! Concerning this and other manufacturing of conscience by the Methodists, let the reader consult Colossians 2:16–23. Whoever takes this passage properly to heart cannot possibly be beguiled by the highly spiritual appearance of Methodism.

*) In the Apology of the Augsburg Confession, as proof of the false holiness of the heretical Encratites, it is cited: "They drank no wine." Art. 11, On the Marriage of Priests.

On p. 109 an example is found of their setting aside God's commandments for the sake of their own human commandments. There they permit a girl to marry without her parents' consent, if she considers it her duty to marry. Who does not see that this merely grants a safe-conduct to caprice and self-will? For how many a girl will take her own caprice for duty, and thereby defy her parents. The other exception, under which a girl is permitted to marry without her parents' consent, is just as shaky, namely: if the parents absolutely refuse to allow her to marry a Christian. But the parents may have entirely different notions of what a Christian is than the girl does, and the parents' notions may be far more correct than the girl's. Why, then, does one make such ordinances, which can prove so detrimental to the commandments of God?

With all such ordinances and commandments our opponents fall under the judgment which the Lord Jesus Christ pronounced: "In vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men." And indeed how is it possible to teach rightly concerning God's commandments where one has lost the true foundation of faith? Satan is not only the enemy of the doctrine of faith, but also of the doctrine of good works. This is recognized, says Luther in his exposition of Galatians 5:14, in that "the devil so deludes and bewitches all work-righteous people, who are held to be the best and most pious in the world, and through them all who are without knowledge and faith of Christ, that they perform no work commanded by God, but instead press and insist only upon something peculiar of their own devising, invented out of their own devotion and good intention, which nevertheless, at bottom, in truth, is nothing but a childish sleight of hand. But because it glitters, unbelieving reason is thereby deceived, esteems it highly, and thinks it to be the true worship of God." Such self-chosen holiness leads to an insufferable pride; nothing pleases them but their own conceit, and this conceit of their own they boldly and brazenly call the Word of God; but when one convicts them by the true Word, they condemn it as heresy. This calls to mind what Dr. Luther says in his particular exposition of the saying in Galatians 1:4–5: the wiser and more pious you are, without knowledge and faith of Christ, the more fiercely you persecute the true doctrine, blaspheme and condemn it as heresy and devil's lies; you accept instead error and lies as God's Word and pass them off as truth, you hate and become from the heart an enemy to all those who teach, hear, and confess God's Word purely, indeed you condemn them as seducers and heretics, and you think you are doing right and well