# Der Lutheraner_St. Louis Missouri_1846 05 30_S80
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

peddler. What they, with such courage and excellence, upheld with goods and blood, and secured for us at the sacrifice of earthly possessions — freedom from the shameful yoke of men in the most sacred of matters, in the matters of eternal salvation — this we squander in the most dissolute manner, and return to a bondage that is worse than that of the pope. For the Church, even in its deepest decline, never subjected itself to the conscience of the pope; rather, he himself had to judge and decide according to the canons and according to the at least ostensibly apostolic tradition of the Church. Here, however, one man takes it upon himself, according to his own wit and opinion and according to his own conscience, to interpret the way of salvation, tears the congregation out of the fellowship of the Church, and subjects it to his own arbitrary judgment!! And indeed there is found a congregation — nay, how many! — that voluntarily withdraws itself from the voice of the whole Church, and listens instead to the voice of a single man in matters of eternal salvation and damnation.

Oh, what a perversion! Instead of it being the case, as it should be, that a Lutheran minister is bound and obligated to teach in a Lutheran manner, that is, according to the symbols of the Lutheran Church, and, if he cannot reconcile this with his conscience, to withdraw as an honest man from his office and the Church, in order to join a communion that agrees with his conscience and teaches accordingly — instead of this, this minister is referred only to his own conscience, and the congregation simply has to be content to receive whatever Mr. C. Weyl, according to his conscience, is willing and able to give, whether it be Lutheran, rationalist, or something else. Oh, the shame of it, for a Lutheran congregation and for a Lutheran minister!

And how, then, does it stand with Mr. Weyl's conscience? Splendidly, indeed — the congregation may rest perfectly assured! For in the second article of the bylaws, Mr. Weyl obligates himself to instruct the confirmands according to the Small Lutheran Catechism, which, as is well known, teaches concerning Baptism that it is a gracious water of regeneration, which works in believers the forgiveness of sin, deliverance from the devil, and grants eternal salvation; and concerning the holy Supper, that it is the true body and the true blood of the Lord. Yet in his own paper he pours out the most disgraceful blasphemies against these very doctrines, especially against that of the holy Supper. How, then, does it stand with his conscience? And what assurance does the congregation have in the conscience of Mr. Weyl??

Thus says the Lord: Should I not punish this? And should not my soul avenge itself on such a people as this? It is a horrible and shameful thing in the land: the prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests rule by their own power, and my people love to have it so. How will it go with you in the end? Jeremiah 5:29–31.

F. Wyneken.

(Submitted by Pastor Keyl.)

Did Dr. Luther Regard the Work of the Reformation as Unfinished?

This was already asserted in Luther's own lifetime by Carlstadt and Thomas Müntzer; in the previous century by G. Arnold and his followers; and more recently by J. Ronge in Germany and by Doctors Kurz, Schmucker, etc., in America (see Lutheraner, Vol. 2, No. [illegible]).

If one applies this claim to the life of the Lutherans — that is, that there is still ever more to reform in it — this is just as self-evident as that a Christian needs the daily renewal of life. But if one wants to say by this, as is customary, that even the doctrine of the Lutherans itself must be reformed or improved, then this is a wholly mendacious and deceptive assertion, one that belongs among the number of the potent errors with which God punishes many for not having received the love of the truth, that they might be saved.

That Dr. Luther regarded the work of the Reformation as complete with respect to doctrine, but as unfinished with respect to life, is clearly evident from the following testimony of the year 1541:

"We for our part have never desired any council to reform our churches. For God the Holy Spirit has long since sanctified our church through his holy Word — indeed, has swept out all the papal whoredom and idolatry — so that we have everything, God be praised, pure and holy: the Word pure, Baptism pure, the Sacrament pure, and the Keys pure; and everything that belongs to the true Church we have holy and pure, without any addition or filth of human doctrine. As for life (as said above), it does not follow along fully as we would gladly wish and desire — a thing the prophets and apostles themselves also lamented, for that belongs to the place where we shall be like the angels. Matthew 22:30." (Luther's Works, vol. XVII, p. 1693ff.)

A powerful testimony of Luther's — showing how gladly all false teachers appeal to the incompleteness of his work — is the following: "Even now the enthusiasts and factious spirits give us this much praise (though very grudgingly), that they must confess we began the matter of the Gospel rightly; but because we condemn and reject their blasphemous doctrine, they now reward us by calling us hypocrites and new papists, twice as bad as the old ones. In this way such thieves and murderers thereby make for themselves an opening and entrance into the Lord's sheepfold, wherein they would gladly steal, strangle, and destroy (John 10:8, 10) — namely, in that they, (as the gentlemen Doctors Kurz, etc., have done) first approve of and praise our cause, but afterward falsely pretend that they wish to explain and set forth everything more clearly and better than we — things which, they claim, we did not sufficiently explain, or which, as they are accustomed to lie, we are supposed not to have rightly understood." (Luther's Works, vol. VIII, p. 1660ff.)

How certain Dr. Luther was that his doctrine was the right one and therefore needed no reformation, he testifies with the following brief and forceful words on Galatians 1:10:

"Thus we too say with St. Paul, most certainly and assuredly, that all doctrine which does not agree with our doctrine is also accursed and devilish." (Ibid., p. 1666.)

Dr. Johann Eck Seeks Money from the Lutherans.

During the Diet of Augsburg in the year 1530, when the Lutherans laid their confession of faith — later called the Augsburg Confession — before Emperor and Empire, Dr. Eck, who was likewise present as a zealous defender of the papacy, applied to Cardinal Campeggio for a wealthy prelacy in Augsburg that had just then become vacant. Upon his representation that he had rendered many services to the Roman Church, the benefice was promised to him. Eck believed his matter to be quite certain. But soon after him there came another applicant, a nobleman, who brought with his petition 400 gulden for the cardinal. The cardinal excused himself, saying he had already promised the position; but the nobleman, a cunning fox, knew a way out — he gave the advice that Dr. Eck should be told that the Duke of Bavaria had written on behalf of another man, to whom the prelacy could not be refused. When Eck then came back to the cardinal after three days and demanded the deed and assurance of the benefice, he was turned away with the answer the nobleman had suggested. This vexed Dr. Eck so much that he went to Philip Melanchthon and other Lutherans, and not only complained to them at length of his misfortune, but even said: "What will you give me, and I will abandon such scoundrels, stand by you, and help defend your cause." Now, great indeed would have been the sensation if Eck — who had, after all, chiefly brought about the pope's ban upon Luther — had gone over to the side of the Lutherans; but the Lutherans, certain of their good cause, had no wish to buy themselves a defender, and Philip Melanchthon asked Dr. Eck: If our doctrine is true, why then do you not stand by it for nothing? When Eck saw that he had been put to shame by his own greed, he slunk away.

As the Doctrine, So the Church.

It is so ordained that in the congregation of God there be no master, for he says in Matthew 23:8: "One is your Master, Christ." And in Psalm 60:8 it stands thus: "God speaks in his sanctuary," that is, in his congregation. But where man, or Satan the devil, speaks, there without doubt is the devil's synagogue and congregation. For as the word is, so also is the people; so also is God; so also is the worship; so also is the faith; so also is the conscience; so also are the works and everything together; for it is through the Word alone that all things are wrought in man. — Luther, on Psalm 8:3.

Change of Office. Rev. Pastor Burger is leaving Zion, Hancock Co., Ohio. His current address is:
J. G. Burger
P. O. Willshire, Van Wert Co., Ohio.

Paid: Vol. 2, Messrs. Kleinschmidt, Anschütz, Helferich Sr. and Jr.

Printed by Weber and Olshausen.

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