# Der Lutheraner_St. Louis Missouri_1846 02 07_S48
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

spoke these words: Dear Philip, what shall we say further? I confess that too much has been made of the matter of the sacrament. But when Philip answered: Dear Doctor, so that the church may be helped and the truth brought to light, let us then publish some mild writing in which we clearly set forth our opinion — Dr. Luther spoke further: Dear Philip, I too have thought very earnestly about this. But in doing so I would make the whole doctrine suspect. So I will commit this to our dear God; you may do something about it after my death."

This story is usually called by Lutheran theologians the "Heidelberg fabrication" (heidelberger Landlüge), since it arose by hearsay and not the slightest trace of it is to be found in Melanchthon's own writings; and since Melanchthon, after Luther's death, was very often accused of corrupting Luther's doctrine, it is quite unthinkable that he, if the incident related had really happened, would not himself have published it in his own defense. To this must be added that, on the contrary, we find in Luther's literary remains irrefutable testimonies that he persisted, right up to his final hour, in his rejection of the Zwinglian doctrine.

First, Luther writes in 1544 to some preachers in Hungary: "Stand firm and do not doubt that I will never — unless God should let me become insane — side with the enemies of the sacrament, nor that this abomination will ever be heard of in the congregation entrusted to me. Or if I should, God forbid, act otherwise, then simply say confidently that I have become insane or have been damned. It is the devil who, knowing that according to the testimony of so many of my writings I stand publicly unconquered, intends, through secret serpent-hissing, to spread evil rumors wherever he can in his corners, and to pervert the word of truth under my name. I am therefore compelled, after so many confessions, to issue yet a new one, which I shall do shortly." (See: Unschuldige Nachrichten, 1718, p. 932.)

Furthermore, on the very day on which Luther preached his last sermon in Wittenberg, namely January 17, 1546, he wrote to Probst in Bremen: "That you write how indignantly and impudently the Swiss write against me, and condemn me as an unhappy and most unhappy man devoid of understanding — this makes me very glad indeed. For that is what I desired; that is what I wanted to achieve with that very same writing (the short confession of 1544), with which I so thoroughly angered them, so that by their own public testimony they would bear witness that they were my enemies. This I have now obtained, and as I have said, I am glad of it too. I, the unhappiest of all men, have enough in this blessedness of the Psalm: Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the sacramentarians, nor stands in the way of the Zwinglians, nor sits where the Zurichers sit. There you have it, what my opinion is." (L. W. XVII, 2634.)

But in the last sermon that Luther preached in Eisleben, he says: "There is no poorer, lowlier, more despised disciple on earth than God. He must be everyone's pupil; everyone wants to be his schoolmaster and instructor — this can be seen from the beginning of the world in all heretics. Arius and Pelagius, and now in our time the Anabaptists and sacramentarians and all fanatics and rebels, are not content with what God has made and instituted, and cannot leave it as it has been ordained."

Finally, when Jonas put the question to the dying Luther whether he now also wished to die holding to the doctrine he had confessed and defended throughout his life, he answered confidently: Yes! Where, then, is the recantation that people would so gladly invent for Luther,

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in order to use his acknowledged faithfulness to the Word to cover up an unfaithfulness to the Word? It remains the case: that story is a "Heidelberg fabrication."

Moreover, it is a rather crude and clumsily presented lie, one that might be believed only by someone who knows Luther merely from a history of the Reformation written by a Jesuit, since every Lutheran schoolchild knows that the authority of the Church Fathers counted for nothing with Luther against the letter of Scripture. Hence old Mörlin writes: "It is known to all the world that Luther did not allow himself to be shown the meaning of Scripture by the Fathers, but rather tested the Fathers' teaching by Scripture, and precisely with this single point rendered the pope defenseless. But now our liars come along claiming that Philip praised the teaching of the Fathers, and that immediately thereafter Luther began to rave about the sacrament — and we foolish simpletons are supposed to let such clever fellows talk us into believing this. If we had not known Luther, one might get away with peddling such lame nonsense; but they will not talk us into it this year."

Mr. Nollau relates a similar legend in his little book; of that, God willing, in the next issue.

(To be continued.)

Testimony of a Famous English Writer Concerning the Value of Luther's Writings.

John Bunyan, who in the seventeenth century served as a preacher of the Presbyterian church at Bedford in England, and who became known also among us Germans through several devotional writings translated into German, such as "The Pilgrim's Progress," relates in his self-written autobiography not only that he firmly believed the unconditional predestination of men to grace or to damnation, as taught by the Calvinist-Reformed church, but also that in connection with this belief he was often terribly assailed by blasphemous thoughts and despair, and that he was rescued from this dreadful trial solely by reading a writing of Luther's.

He himself writes of this as follows: "Before I came out of this temptation, I greatly desired to become acquainted with the experiences of one or another godly writer who had lived some hundreds of years before. And after this desire had often stirred within me, God, in whose power all our ways lie, caused a book of Martin Luther's to come into my hands at a certain time, called the Commentary on the Epistle to the Galatians; it was so old that it almost fell apart piece by piece whenever I merely turned it over. This book, old as it was, pleased me very greatly. For as soon as I had looked into it only a little, I found my own condition dealt with in his experience so fully and at such length, as if his book had been written out of my own heart. This seemed strange to me. For I thought that this man could know nothing of the condition of present-day Christians, but must necessarily write and speak out of the experience of former times. Moreover, in this book he set forth most excellently the origin of these temptations to blasphemy, despair, and the like, and showed that the Law of Moses, as well as the devil, death, and hell, all had a noticeable hand in them: this at first seemed to me somewhat strange, but when I considered it closely, I found it to be entirely true. It seems to me I must say plainly and roundly that I must set this book of Luther's, the Commentary on the Epistle to the Galatians, above all books (except Holy Scripture) that I have ever seen, because it is so excellent and so fitting for a wounded conscience."

Here, dear German countrymen, you have the testimony of a foreigner as to what treasures God has entrusted to us in Luther's writings. May it only not prove true of us Germans, that proverb: "A prophet is nowhere held in less honor than in his own country and in his own house." Matthew 13:57. It is indeed true that Luther's writings are no food for people who seek their blessedness and rest either openly in the world's goods, pleasures, or honors, or who have already grown accustomed to the dainty fare of the sentimental feeling-Christianity of our time; but whoever has been struck down by the thunder of the Law from Sinai and brought to a wholesome despair of himself, whoever therefore hungers and thirsts after divine, unchangeable, unerring truth and after the righteousness that avails before God — let him read Luther's writings, and they will taste as sweet to him as they once did to Bunyan, when he felt the wounds of his stricken conscience.

The True and the False Church.

In whatever church the Word of God is preached purely, and the sacraments are administered unaltered according to the institution of the Lord Christ, there is true faith and salvation; therefore that is the true church. On the other hand, where the Word of God is not preached, or not preached purely, and the sacraments are wrongly administered, that is the false church, even should it display an outward, angelic holiness.

P. J. Spener.

Simplicity in Preaching.

One must present things to the people in as childlike and simple a manner as one possibly can. Otherwise one of two things follows: either they learn and understand nothing of it, or, if they also want to be clever and with their reason get into lofty thoughts, that they fall away from faith altogether. — Luther.

Paid:

For volumes 1 and 2: the Reverend Pastor Isensee.

For the seminary at Altenburg, Perry Co., Mo., received from two congregations of the Reverend Pastor Schieferdecker: $4.50. Heartfelt thanks!

Printed by Weber and Olshausen.