# Der Lutheraner_St. Louis Missouri_1845 12 22_S36
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

pupils, who are willing to be taught and instructed — For this is indeed such a doctrine as would make our wisdom foolish and put out the eyes of reason, if it is to be believed and understood at all; for it does not come from human wisdom, as other doctrines and arts on earth do, which are derived from reason and can again be grasped by it."

On John 6:43-44.

"In outward and worldly matters, let reason have its judgment. For there you may well reckon and conclude that the cow is bigger than the calf, etc. — Now, in that realm, prove your cleverness; be a master there, and a fine fellow, and put your skill to use. But here, when it comes to how one is to be saved in heavenly matters and in matters of faith, then shut reason out, hold still, do not measure by reason; but listen and say: here I can go no further, this does not fit here. — The Pope says here: I will hold Mass, read vigils, pray rosaries, do good works, become a Carthusian, and endow alms — by this I will get to heaven and be saved. Yes — just as a cow might fit into a mousehole." —

From the Writing Against Erasmus:

"Therefore it is not the fault of a dull and feeble understanding that we do not understand God's Word; indeed, no one is more capable of grasping God's Word than those who despair of reason and seek it with fear and simplicity; for Christ came for the sake of the simple and the foolish, and has sent his Gospel to the foolish and the poor. Rather, it is the malice of the devil, who works in our weak flesh, which is blinded and thus resists God. — Therefore one should everywhere hold fast to the plain, unadorned words of Scripture, and to their natural sense and meaning, as conveyed by the letter, or grammar, and the natural manner of speaking, just as God created language among men. For if everyone were allowed to depart from the pure, plain words and make consequences and twisted words wherever he pleased, what would Scripture be, then, but a reed shaken and swayed by the wind?"

Since Luther, then, placed human reason in divine things, that is, in matters of faith, neither beside nor above, but beneath Holy Scripture, and least of all ever wished to make it a second pillar of Protestantism, it is evident that Mr. Weyl, in support of his "clear grounds of reason" as this his "second pillar," has falsely and quite contrary to plain truth appealed to Luther.

Mr. Weyl therefore asserts quite wrongly that "those who call themselves Bible-Christians," who claim to believe and interpret the Word of God literally and set reason entirely aside — that such "literalists," who "boast" of walking in the footsteps of the great Reformer, have him as their "fellow" only in one case (unquestionably in the doctrine of Holy Communion). On the contrary, Mr. Weyl, in his "clear grounds of reason" on the matter of Protestantism, has as "his fellows" — neither Luther, in this or in other cases — but at the very least those rationalists who, while not placing reason above Holy Scripture, nonetheless place it beside it (which, in its consequences, is no better). His voice, then, is not a Lutheran shepherd's voice, but a rationalist wolf's voice. Surely Luther would now, much as in his own time, exclaim: Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the "clear-reason-mongers," nor stand in the way of the Zwinglians, nor sit where the rationalists sit. As for what Mr. Weyl further adduces from Luther's letter to Elector Frederick of Saxony (written before his journey to Worms) about a "clear statement of the fundamental ideas of Protestantism," it is too wretched and confused to waste another word on.

May Mr. Weyl no longer deceive his readers with such deceptions as are censured here. May he, for his own good, consider what is written in Proverbs 19:9 and Galatians 5:10.

F. W. Barthel,
a layman.

What Think Ye of Christ?

"Why callest thou me good? None is good, save one, that is, God," the Lord once answered that rich man who had addressed him as "good Master," without having done so, as Christ could easily perceive, with reference to his divine dignity. Our rationalists work themselves up, as with many other phrases, especially also with the sort by which they call Christ — not merely good, but the best, noblest, most excellent, most perfect example of all virtue, etc. — even though they nevertheless acknowledge his divine dignity far less than that rich man did. Will not the Lord then also ask them: "Why do you call me good?" And what will they answer him to this question?

— — Come then, you rationalists, declare yourselves! What do you want? If you will call Christ good, then acknowledge also his deity; if you will not do this, then also give up all your praising and glorifying of his excellence. You may easily gather from his own reply that you do him a poor service thereby — especially since, as long as you persist in denying his deity, you do not leave to your "most excellent and best one," for all the praise with which you so lavishly heap him, even the honor of his honest name — indeed, you make him a perjurer. For when the high priest, his judge, put him under oath, saying: "I adjure thee by the living God, that thou tell us whether thou be the Christ, the Son of God," he testified indeed: "Thou hast said — I am." And whoever would still wish to leave it in doubt whether Christ thereby testified precisely to his deity, may see, from John 10:33, how the Jews understood the expression "Son of God," and how, accordingly, the high priest — and with him Jesus himself — must have understood it there, and likewise why they found in it so damnable a blasphemy.

Choose, then, you friends of reason, between these two conclusions, dictated by reason itself:

None is good but God alone;
Christ is good;
Therefore — Christ is God alone;

or

None is good but God alone;
Christ is not God alone;
Therefore — Christ is not good.

H. L. C.

"His mischief shall come back upon his own head, and his violence shall fall upon his own crown." Psalm 7:17.

Alexius Crossner was, in the time of Duke George, the only evangelical court preacher in Dresden. After he had taught the Gospel purely here for three years, thereby angering high and low, priest and layman alike, his reward at last was that he was persecuted and dismissed from his office. When he had now (1527) departed from Dresden with his belongings, the notorious papist Bible-translator Emser — the Duke's councilor and secretary — met him on the road on horseback and called out to him: "Well, I see this day with joy, that the heretic's preaching has finally been put to an end. Go, in the devil's name; I shall remain here." Crossner answered: "In God's name would also be a word worth saying. I was in Meissen before you, and I will remain in it when you are no more." This was soon fulfilled. That very evening Emser went as a guest to a wealthy citizen's house, made merry with the other guests, and drank well; after the meal he sat down in a chair, and there, after having uttered shameful words, suddenly gave up his spirit amid dreadful contortions.

The Right Attitude Toward Congregation Members Placed Under the Ban.

Christians mourn as dead and deceased those whom they have had to separate from themselves; for however deformed and infected a member of our body may be, we always do violence to ourselves whenever we are compelled to cut it off.

Origen.

From Saxony.

We learn just now from a private letter that Dr. Rudelbach, hitherto consistorial councilor and superintendent at Glauchau in Saxony, will be following a call to Denmark, his native land. This departure suggests that things are shaping up not altogether favorably for the Lutheran church in Saxony.

Paid:
Vols. 1 and 2, Mr. Flittner.
P. Richmann.

IV.

Printed by Weber and Olshausen.