# Lehre und Wehre_St. Louis Missouri_Juli 1855_S211
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

Prof. Dr. Hengstenberg’s Judgment on the State of the Union. 211

“Whoever may find that the same thing has likewise occurred in my continuation of the Gospel Harmony, I shall not only refrain from denying it, but shall willingly agree and concede it to him.” All the other theologians, however, thought differently. It would take up too much space if we were to cite even only the praises bestowed on Gerhard’s work by the most famous among them. Let just one such encomium find a place here. Thus, in 1651, the entire Wittenberg theological faculty wrote: “Again and again we urgently commend this work, as a treasure surpassing all gold and precious stones in value, to all lovers of the Word of God and to candidates for theology and the preaching ministry.” (See Bibl. Illustr. Calov. N. T., p. 13.) Finally, we not only call attention here to the apt characterization of our Harmony that our dear and esteemed friend and brother, Professor Crämer, has already given in the March issue of “Lehre und Wehre,” pp. 76–77, but also recall once more that the monthly pastors’ conference in Fort Wayne is now in the process of publishing “A Truly Evangelical Exposition of the Sunday and Festival Gospels of the Church Year, Translated and Excerpted from the Gospel Harmony of the Lutheran Theologians M. Chemnitz, Polyk. Leyser, and Joh. Gerhard,” in occasional installments of 32 octavo pages each. No German pastor should neglect to acquire this work. Alongside the “Sermon Outlines” excerpted from Luther by Pastor Keyl in Baltimore, which have just appeared in the first installment, there can be no more excellent aid in preparing sermons on the Gospel pericopes than that “Exposition” drawn from our Harmony.
(To be continued.)

Prof. Dr. Hengstenberg’s Judgment on the State of the Union.

This judgment is given by the man who is undoubtedly the most distinguished theologian within the united church body in Prussia, in his preface to the 1855 volume of his “Evangelische Kirchen-Zeitung.” Much as it pains us still to see this dear man occupying the position expressed in this judgment, its nature is nevertheless such that even a Lutheran can rejoice in it. We therefore share an excerpt from it below, all the more gladly because here in America efforts are being directed above all toward a so-called “absorptive Union,” against which Hengstenberg specifically bears witness, while the Union in which the writer himself languishes, held fast by the bonds of his own heart, in accordance with the conditions prevailing here