# Lehre und Wehre_St. Louis Missouri_September 1855_S286
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

286 A Word from Thiersch on Modern Christian Entertainment Literature, etc.

Of great men of the church we read that they worked their way up by way of great men; Luther, for example, pursued Augustine in a manner that one would certainly now call one-sided; how much more profitable will it be for me, a lesser man, to climb up toward the great and grow strong!

Scarcely will anyone raise against me the objection that I am wrongly urging that Luther be chosen as the center of theological study, since Holy Scripture must be that center. For Luther, Scripture had grown into his very heart; thus he now hands it on to us, so that it may likewise grow into our heart. Whoever studies Luther in Keyl's manner will surely be driven into the Scripture, and will thereby learn true scriptural exposition. It has been said that Luther, the preacher of justification, understands Paul well but does not understand John; but to believe this would be just as much as to hold that Paul knows nothing of love — which in any case everyone who reads 1 Corinthians 13 will declare a foolish statement. Let one read, for instance, only once the expositions of the Gospels between Easter and Pentecost, and from these few samples alone one will see that in reading John, Dr. Luther is the best guide. He grasps every word of Scripture not merely in its immediate setting, but always also in connection with the whole of Scripture; he explores the gold of the pure, saving doctrine with a sure eye and brings it to light, and all this in a manner equally removed from heartless sobriety and from wild enthusiasm. Under the guidance of such a leader, and equipped besides with the findings of recent scholarship, philology, and the like, how gladly would we not walk with heartfelt delight in the green pastures and drink from the fresh springs of the noble Word of God!"

A Word from Thiersch on Modern Christian
Entertainment Literature.

W. J. Thiersch has put out a small tract: On Christian Family Life. Frankfurt am Main and Erlangen, 1854. Although one might, with good reason, take issue with the author on some points — as, for instance, the Evangelische Kirchenzeitung has in its recent numbers taken up his views on the remarriage of divorced persons — the deep moral earnestness which runs through this whole work with unshaken consistency and sharp precision deserves all the more recognition, since it is by no means a self-chosen rigorism but rests upon a consistent pursuit of Christian principles. Let it be permitted to give readers not yet acquainted with this work a rather incidental remark by way of sample: it contains, I think, much worth taking to heart, even though some qualification may still need to be made here. "As for the writings of the godly men of old, we hold a whole-