# Der Lutheraner_St. Louis Missouri_1845 12 22_S35
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

In keeping with this belief of his, the same Pope said on his deathbed to Cardinal Bembo: "Oh, how many treasures that fable of Christ has brought us!"

(Submitted.)

An Examination of the Article: "The Word of God and Clear Grounds of Reason, Two Foundation Pillars of Protestantism." In the Lutherische Hirtenstimme, No. 14 of this year.*)

The editor of this so-called "Lutherische Hirtenstimme," the Reverend Pastor Weyl of Baltimore, sets up in the above article the Word of God and "clear grounds of reason" as two foundation pillars of Protestantism, and asserts that Luther himself pointed with equal force to these "two original sources" of evangelical Protestantism.

And where, and on what occasion, is Luther supposed to have done this? — Listen! At the Diet of Worms in the year 1521, in the world-famous final answer, and in the answer he gave the following day to the Elector of Brandenburg. But what does Luther himself report about his conduct at this diet?!

In his letter to Emperor Charles V, which he sent back from Friedberg after his departure from Worms, he says: "I am still entirely willing and ready to present and submit myself before impartial, learned, free, and unbiased judges, whether secular or spiritual, so that, through Your Imperial Majesty's estates of the Empire, councils, doctors, or whoever can and will teach, my little books and teachings might all gladly be submitted, and I would endure and accept their examination, judgment, and verdict — excepting nothing except that all should be measured against the public, clear, and free Word of God, which rightly ought to be, and remain, judge over everything and over all men."

In his more detailed "Account of the Proceedings at the Diet of Worms," the following passages occur, among others:

*) We have thus far been silent about the article examined here, considering that Mr. Weyl, since the errors laid bare in it are so obvious, has himself spared us the trouble of having to lift, before the eyes of the Lutherans here, even a little the Lutheran sheep's clothing in which Mr. Weyl has wrapped himself with the title of his Hirtenstimme. We gladly accept, however, the present testimony of a well-informed layman, since it is in any case good when the readers of the "Lutheraner" can see from it how completely those have fallen away from the Lutheran faith who approve the teaching of the so-called "Lutheran General Synod," whose organ the "Hirtenstimme" is. — Even the Methodist "Apologist" recently had occasion to reproach the "Lutherische Hirtenstimme" for being neither cold nor warm; now, we by no means wish the latter the Methodist fever-heat, but this we do wish: that it either strike the word "Lutheran" from its false signboard, or — which God grant! — give honor to the truth and strive to become what it now only wishes to appear to be. D. H.

"Therefore I beg, through the mercy of God, that Your Imperial Majesty, the Electoral and Princely Graces, or whoever can do so, would give testimony and convict me by prophetic and apostolic writings that I have erred." —

"Since Your Imperial Majesty and the Electoral and Princely Graces desire a plain, simple, straightforward answer, I will give one that shall have neither horns nor teeth, namely this: Unless I am convicted and overcome by testimonies of Holy Scripture, or by clear and evident grounds and reasons — for I believe neither the Pope nor the councils alone, since it is plain and manifest that they have often erred and even contradicted themselves — and unless, by the very passages that I have cited and adduced, I am thus convinced, and my conscience taken captive in God's Word, then I neither can nor will recant anything; for it is neither safe nor wise to act against conscience. Here I stand, etc." —

"There Dr. Martin asked that His Imperial Majesty would not permit him to be compelled to recant anything against his conscience, which was bound and convinced by Holy Scripture, without public argument and proof from those who spoke against it. The answer he had given was neither incorrect nor sophistical, etc.; unless the adversaries would explain and free his conscience — bound, as they call it, by errors — with sufficient grounds from Holy Scripture." — And further, p. 2314.

"He was willing and glad to have his books examined and weighed, provided only that this be done by God's Word and Holy Scripture. But God's Word was so clear and evident to him that he could not yield, unless he were better instructed and taught by that very Word. — When he had said this, the Elector of Brandenburg asked him whether he had said he would not yield unless he were overcome by Holy Scripture. Dr. Martinus answered: Yes, or by clear and evident reasons and grounds." —

"Finally they sought to have him (Luther) at least submit his case to the judgment of a future council. To this Dr. Luther agreed; but on the condition and understanding that the articles drawn from his books be submitted to the council itself only on these terms: that judgment upon them be spoken and rendered from Holy Scripture, and that the contrary be demonstrated and proved by testimonies from the same."

His final declaration: "He desired nothing else than that a reformation be undertaken and carried out on the basis of Holy Scripture, for which he had so earnestly pleaded; otherwise he reserved nothing at all for himself, except this alone — freely to confess and bear witness to the one Word of God." —

What, then, was it on which Luther based his defense at Worms? — Solely the one and only foundation pillar, Holy Scripture, on whose ground alone he had attacked the papal errors in his writings, and by which alone he wished to be refuted before he could recant.

For what Luther meant by the public, clear, and evident grounds and reasons (which Mr. Weyl would so very much like to reduce to mere "apparent grounds of reason" — that is, to such grounds as human reason produces from itself, without divine revelation — and thereby stamp as a second pillar of his Protestantism) is unmistakably nothing other than this: if one could not indeed hold up against him other passages of Holy Scripture that would refute him, he would then also surrender himself as convinced — not, say, if mere grounds of reason were brought against him, but if clear grounds were brought showing that the very passages of Holy Scripture that he had cited for his assertions testified against him and that he had applied them incorrectly — so that in every case he would be held captive in his conscience not by reason, but by passages of Scripture, whether newly cited or his own, if these were shown to him rightly interpreted otherwise. This is clear enough from the context of the passages above, and especially from the words in the second passage: "and thus convinced by the very sayings which I have cited and adduced" — which Mr. Weyl has "cleverly" left out entirely in his article. For by the little word "thus" Luther clearly indicates that the being refuted (by evident grounds and reasons) of which he had spoken consisted in this: that it be proved to him that the scriptural passages he had cited were not for him, but against him. For good measure, we give the reader the following passages from Luther's writings to consider.

On Psalm 119:105.

"Reason, too, is a light, and a beautiful light. But it cannot show or find the way and the path that is to lead out of sin and out of death, to righteousness and to life; it remains in darkness. Just as our tallow and wax candles do not light up heaven, nor the earth either, but only the narrow corners in houses, while the sun lights up heaven, earth, and everything: so also God's Word is the true sun that gives us the eternal day in which to live and be joyful. — Whoever seeks another light than God's Word," (as Mr. Weyl does), "surely finds nothing but will-o'-the-wisps, by which it is far more dangerous to walk than in the darkness itself." —

In the Easter Sermon on Luke 24.

"Therefore Scripture is such a book that requires not only reading and preaching, but also the right interpreter, namely the revelation of the Holy Spirit; as we also see from the experience of our own time, where one demonstrates as clearly as possible from Holy Scripture the article of pure doctrine, and the error of the adversaries, and yet it does not help them at all. — But for such revelation there also belong the right