# Der Lutheraner_St. Louis Missouri_1845 12 08_S31
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

his most trustworthy disciples, Dr. Hieron. Weller; as proof, this man adduces those preachers who in his time zealously contended against the Adiaphorists and the Papists only out of contention and love of glory, and says that they were not therefore to be rejected — and precisely for this reason: that their doctrine was nevertheless correct.

Finally, essentially the same manner of explanation is also found in Brentius and M. Chemnitius.

According to what has been said so far, one may not appeal to this saying when one asserts that the various churches, sects, and parties that call themselves Christian nevertheless preach Christ, even if in various ways; for what matters here is not so much the personal intention of the teachers — since that intention, however good it may be, can help neither themselves nor their hearers, so long as they confuse them with all sorts of foreign doctrines, as may be seen from their public confessional writings and other testimonies of their teaching, namely from the fruits of that teaching among their hearers.

They all claim, of course, that they preach Christ; but hear what Christ himself says: "Then, if any man" (that is, throughout the whole time from his ascension to the end of the world) "shall say unto you [my disciples], Lo, here is Christ, or there, believe it not. For there shall arise false Christs and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders, so that, if it were possible, even the elect would be led astray into error." Matthew 24:23–24.

If nothing more were required to proclaim Christ than to have individual biblical words and truths on one's lips, then all false teachers, blasphemers, mockers, and fanatics of old and new times, then even the Turks — who, as is well known, hold Christ in higher regard than the Rationalists do — then even the devils, who called Christ the Son of God — all of these alike would be such as proclaimed Christ "in every way"; then the longed-for union would be near its completion not only among the most diverse Christian parties, but the plan of von Ammon, too, of developing Christianity further into a world religion, would then soon come into being, since Jews, Turks, and heathen alike would, without much difficulty, accommodate themselves to such a Christianity. But then such people also could not boast any advantage over others who proclaim Christ in a different way than they do; and since, in their opinion, it makes no difference how Christ is proclaimed, they would have to regard everyone who does so — even if it were a parrot that only cried, "Christ! Christ!" — as a proclaimer of Christ, and embrace him as a dear brother in Christ.

In such enlightenment we narrow-minded Lutherans are, to be sure, still fully 1800 years behind; to such broadmindedness in Christian brotherly love we have not yet attained, but confine ourselves, in the greatest narrowness, so far as our judgment concerning the proclamation of Christ is concerned — whatever the intention behind it may be — to the judgment of St. Paul, Galatians 1:8: "But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed!"

"Of His Fullness Have We All Received, Grace for Grace."
John 1:16.

(From Luther's Exposition of the First Two Chapters of St. John's Gospel. St. Louis [Halle] Edition, VII, 1591 ff.)

This is also one of the golden texts in St. John, like this one: "The Son of God is the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world." Therefore, whoever does not know Christ, or does not believe in him, and does not have him for his own, is and remains a child of wrath and damnation, be he called and be he who he will. But if he is to come to grace, this must happen through Christ alone, who alone makes our poverty rich through his abundance, drives out our sin through his righteousness, swallows up our death through his life, and out of us — children of wrath, full of sin, hypocrisy, lies, and falsehood — makes children of grace and truth. Whoever does not have this man has nothing.

That is to say: not only all men, but also all the saints, whatever they may be called, are, taken together, simply thrown down and made sinners, graceless, and liars, insofar as they stand upon themselves and do not have Christ. For all children of Adam are born in sin and disgrace, so that there is nothing upright in them, but everything is false, full of hypocrisy, lies, and deceit; it does not help them to pretend to be devout and holy, to put forward fine things, to wish to be considered humble and spiritual — they become children of God only through faith in Christ.

It is indeed to be wondered at that we are so proud, boasting, vaunting, and defiant about our beauty, wealth, nobility, power, art, wisdom, honorable life, good works, orders, merit, and so on; for before God it is all vain wrath, disgrace, falsehood, filth, and dung (Philippians 3:7–9); there is no grace and truth in it. And indeed, if we were not blind even with seeing eyes, we ought surely to see that God has humbled us (mankind) enough — laying upon us so many kinds of plagues and sicknesses, and finally death, as punishment for our sin — so that we are not sure of a single moment of our life, and that, where we do not have Christ as Lord and Savior, we must be lost and damned forever.

But if we wish to boast, then let us boast of this: that we take of the fullness of the Lord Christ, are enlightened through him, obtain forgiveness of sins, and become children of God. For that is the sum of the matter. Whoever wishes to be preserved from the power of the devil, and to escape sin and death, must draw from this well, Christ; from it all salvation and blessedness must flow. This well is inexhaustible; it is full of grace and truth before God; it loses nothing by it, however much we draw from it. Though we should all without ceasing draw from this well together, it still cannot be exhausted, but remains an unending source of all grace and truth, a well without bottom and an eternal spring; the more one draws from it, the more richly it gives — "such water," as he says afterward, "as springs up into everlasting life."

Just as the dear sun is not darkened or dimmed by having to give light to many — indeed, the whole world enjoys its light, its shining, and its splendor, and yet it keeps its light wholly entire, nothing is taken from it; it is an immeasurable light, and could well illumine ten more worlds besides; likewise, a hundred thousand lamps can well be kindled from one light, and yet that one light (from which many other lights or candles are lit and kindled) loses nothing; so too a learned man can well make a thousand learned people, and loses nothing of his own learning — the more he gives to others, the more he has: so also is Christ, our Lord (to whom we must have recourse, and from whom we must ask everything), an unending fountain and chief source of all grace, truth, righteousness, and life, which is without measure, end, or bottom — so that even if the whole world drew so much grace and truth from it that pure angels came of it, not one little drop would yet be lacking to him; the spring runs over forever, full of grace. Whoever, then — none excluded — wishes to enjoy his grace, let him come and fetch it from him. You will not dry up this spring of living water; it will not run dry; you will all draw abundantly enough from it, and it will yet remain an unending spring.

Such a preacher, says John the Baptist, you shall have; do not imagine that it will help you to be pious, to keep yourselves according to the Law of Moses, to do many good works, and so on. Your doing will not hold up; and though it should gleam ever so preciously, it is all nevertheless false and a wretched appearance. For you do not merely walk in darkness, but are darkness itself, subject to sin and death, just as are all people on earth. But if you wish truly to become devout, pure, righteous, and blessed, then fetch it from him whom God the Father has sealed, who is the rich, unending spring and fullness from which all the patriarchs, the prophets — in short, all the saints, I, John, myself as well — have drawn, and ever and again draw, have received, and still receive. All of us together (none excepted, however holy he may claim to be) come empty, and draw our little vessel full out of his spring and fullness.

Also, no one should be fainthearted, or think: How can we all take from him? I too am not worthy of it, I do not belong among the number of the saints — and therefore wish to despair. So says St. John: