# Der Lutheraner_St. Louis Missouri_1846 02 21_S52
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

deny both — first, that the body of Christ is received with the bodily mouth, and second, that it is therefore partaken of by an ungodly and unbelieving person just as much as by a devout and believing one — it is, from the testimonies above, perfectly clear as day that Luther fought not only against the Zwinglian but also against the Calvinist doctrine until his death. The story retold by Mr. N. thus clearly proves itself to be an invented falsehood. Would that the Reformed, the Evangelicals, and others might finally begin to be ashamed of such lies, and no longer, however pressing their embarrassment, resort to such lies in order to prove something unprovable in their own justification. No small harm is done by such lies. Simple and very weak-in-faith people, who know neither Calvin nor Luther well, believe such lies and are led astray by the supposed judgment of a recognized and faithful teacher. It is remarkable, in any case, that the Evangelicals, who otherwise protest against all deference to human authority and reproachfully charge the Lutherans with a faith resting on authority, are only too glad, for their own reassurance and that of others, to make the blessed Luther their patron.

On a Lutheran, however, who is no longer a child to be tossed and swayed by every wind of doctrine, such proofs — which are drawn merely from human authority — make little or no impression. A Lutheran does not accept the Lutheran doctrine because Luther accepted it, but because Luther has demonstrated it clearly and irrefutably from God's Word. A Lutheran loves Luther so heartily above a thousand other teachers because he so wonderfully teaches one to ground one's conscience solely and entirely on the unchangeable Word of God. It is precisely such disciples, and no others, that Luther desires. He therefore says in his letter to Hartmuth von Cronberg: "For this is proof that they believe not for the sake of men, but for the sake of the Word itself. Many there are who believe for my sake; but those alone are the upright ones who remain in it even if they should hear that I myself (God forbid) denied it and fell away from it. These are the ones who care nothing for whatever evil, dreadful, or shameful things they hear about me or about our people. For they believe not in Luther, but in Christ himself. The Word possesses them, and they possess the Word; they let Luther go, be he a rogue or a saint. God can speak through Balaam as well as through Isaiah, through Caiaphas as well as through Peter, indeed even through a donkey. I hold with such people too. For I myself do not know Luther, nor do I wish to know him; I preach nothing of him, but of Christ. Let the devil take him if he can; only let him leave Christ in peace, and then we too shall fare well." (Luther's Works, XV, 1988–89.)

Dr. Martin Luther's Sermon on Preparing to Die.

This sermon has been reprinted unaltered by some local lovers of Luther's writings as a gift for the third centenary observance of the death of the blessed Luther. Luther indeed wrote it as early as 1519, at a time when he did not yet use the language that he later employed, for instance in his commentary on the Epistle to the Galatians. But precisely this sermon bears witness to what an excellent knowledge Luther already had in 1519 of the true evangelical way of salvation. Whoever wishes to die a blessed death should read this sermon and follow Luther's counsel, and it will not fail him, as surely as the gospel is a power of God that saves all who believe in it. Furthermore, whoever wishes to learn the difference between the Lutheran doctrine and the doctrine of the Methodists and the methodistically minded pseudo-Lutherans, Reformed, Evangelicals, etc., should read this little tract, and he will find that the difference between the old Lutheran doctrine and the teaching that has come to prevail among the so-called "Believers and New-Measure people" does not consist merely in a few, seemingly not very important points of doctrine, but that they now build on an entirely different foundation and show an entirely different way to salvation — namely, they overturn the true foundation, Christ laid hold of by faith in his Word and Sacrament, and teach that one should ground one's salvation on one's own repentance, contrition, experiences, feelings, states of mind, sanctification — in short, on oneself and one's own doing and making.

In the nineteenth chapter of the sermon Luther himself briefly states its main content; there he says: "Now in this matter one must apply all diligence so that one invites none of these three images into one's house, nor paint the devil over the door" (namely, the image of death, of sin, and of hell); "they will of themselves come crashing in all too strongly and will want to take complete possession of the heart with their appearance, arguing, and display. And where that happens, the person is lost and has forgotten God entirely. For these images belong to this present time in no other way than to fight against them and drive them out; indeed, where they stand alone, without a view through to other images" — that is, without one looking at them through the image of the grace of Christ — then "they belong nowhere but in hell among the devils. Now whoever wishes to fight well against them and drive them out will not find it enough merely to grapple, strike, or wrestle with them. For they will prove too strong for him, and it will grow worse and worse. The whole art consists in letting them fall and not dealing with them at all. But how does that come about? It comes about thus: you must look upon death within life, sin within grace, hell within heaven, and not let yourself be driven from that view even if all the angels, all creatures — indeed, even if it should seem to you that God himself — were to present it to you otherwise, which they nevertheless do not do; rather, it is the evil spirit that produces a false appearance. How then should one act?" etc.

May the seed-corn of evangelical truth, which is hereby scattered anew, find many a heart in which it may spring up and bring forth rich fruits of comfort and light in the throes of death and the night of dying!

Whoever wishes to obtain the little tract (16 small octavo pages, with cover) may obtain it through the publisher of this paper, the copy for 5 cents.

Weller Is Converted through a Sermon of Luther's.

Hieronymus Weller, born September 5, 1499, at Freiberg, and died there March 20, 1572, this close friend of Luther's household, who became especially renowned for the gift granted him by God of comforting the spiritually afflicted and the melancholy, relates in his commentary on 2 Corinthians 7:10 how he was converted — and does so, in keeping with the godly simplicity of our forefathers, as follows: "When I had come to Wittenberg forty years ago to learn rhetoric there and to begin the study of law (for at that time I thought of nothing less than becoming a theologian), it happened once that Dr. Luther was expounding the Catechism in church and cited terrifying examples of divine wrath against sin, together with fearful divine threats. I was so deeply moved by this sermon of Luther's that I fell into an unusual sadness, which drove me to do earnest penance and to turn from the sins into which I had previously fallen, partly through godless company and partly through eager reading of Lucian, that godless mocker of religion. In short, the consternation and grief of soul that arose within me became for me the occasion of devoting myself from then on to the study of theology. For this reason I have often counted myself blessed on account of this sorrow sent to me by God, recalling that verse, Psalm 119:71: 'It is good for me that I have been afflicted, that I might learn thy statutes.' But Paul says expressly that we shall never regret having been grieved and made sorrowful by God himself. 2 Corinthians 7:10."

Faith Based on Feeling.

Thus reason and nature always act in such a way that they follow only so far as they feel; when they no longer feel anything, they are ready at once to deny God and to say, as it is said of them in Psalm 14:1, "God is not here" — the devil must be here instead. That is the light of the universities, which is supposed to lead them to God; yes, into the abyss of hell rather! The light of nature and the light of grace cannot be friends. Nature wants to feel and be certain before it believes; grace wants to believe before it feels. Therefore nature goes no further than its own light. Grace steps forth joyfully into the darkness, follows the bare Word and Scripture, whether things appear one way or another; whether it seems true or false to nature, grace nevertheless holds fast to the Word. — From Luther's Church Postil.

Paid:
Volumes 1 and 2: Rev. P. Hattstedt, P. Cronenwett;
Volume 2: Rev. P. Detzer, Ch. Piepenbrink, N. Schwegmann, A. Schraub.

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