# Der Lutheraner_St. Louis Missouri_1844 09 29_S11
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

really holds what he preaches to be true, and does not wish to mutilate the truth but to confess it whole — can he (whatever he may hold to be true) confess a church that appeals to two kinds of confessional writings which mutually cancel each other out, of which the one rejects the other? — a church which therefore evidently has no confessional writings at all, indeed, in which two different faiths are sanctioned, that is, both truth and falsehood? (for two mutually contradictory doctrines cannot possibly both be true!) One would surely think it impossible that men who hold the whole Bible to be true could ever have come to the notion that this new so-called United, or Evangelical, Church — founded by a Prussian king, forced upon the tyrannized congregations without their knowledge, smuggled in through all manner of intrigues, and eagerly promoted by most of the rationalists — is the final flowering of the Kingdom of God in the world, the forecourt of the glorious temple of a (fanatically expected) thousand-year kingdom of Christ on earth. Is not, rather, the age of the Babylonian confusion of tongues called forth anew by this church? Is not an outward, ceremonial union of people of differing faith put in the place of the true unity of faith and spirit of the Christian Church? Does not this new-evangelical church raise the very doubt over the points disputed between the Lutherans and the Reformed into an article of faith, and make the abandonment of truth the watchword of the supposedly orthodox? Does not the new-evangelical church, moreover, through its actual confession that this or that article of faith may be taught in one way as well as another, pave the way for everything clearly expressed in God's Word finally to be declared uncertain and undecidable, and for the interpretation of Scripture to be left to the caprice of every fanatic and rationalist? Is not the fear well founded that, where a congregation first constitutes itself as an evangelical one, without the foundation of a decided confession, a rationalist will soon follow the evangelical preacher there? Must this not necessarily happen? Does not the one regard as fair for himself what is granted as right to the other? If the Evangelical was first allowed to say: "The interpretation of this passage concerning the sacraments, concerning election by grace, etc., is left to each person's conscience; no one may condemn another as a heretic on account of a difference on these points" — can the rationalist not then likewise claim this same right to insist on freedom of interpretation on many other points? — In short, the now so-called evangelical church lacks a confession of the truth in the most important matters of Christian doctrine; it declares these to be unimportant, inessential, and fairly indifferent, and Christ's Word to be uncertain. It can therefore be regarded as nothing other than

11

the fellowship of the indifferentists — that is, of those to whom true and false doctrine are all the same: therefore we Lutherans can no longer possibly call ourselves Evangelical, so as not to be confused with the latter and thereby deny our faith. We must rather call out to all those Lutherans who have let themselves be deceived by the beautiful evangelical name and lured into the net of the false Union: "How long will you go limping between two opinions? If the LORD is God, follow him; but if Baal, then follow him." (1 Kings 18.)

"Then call yourselves Protestants," someone else will therefore perhaps call out to us. — It is indeed true that from the year 1529 onward, for a fairly long period, the Lutherans alone were called Protestants. For in that year the Lutheran electors of Saxony and Brandenburg and other Lutheran princes and cities of the Empire lodged, at the Diet of Speyer, a protest against the resolution of the Diet by which the severe edict published against Luther at Worms in 1521, and the ban pronounced in it, were to be enforced; and from this protest the Lutherans received that name. Although this name could indeed be well interpreted to mean that we, as the orthodox, wished continually to protest against all abuses and human doctrines, it is nevertheless known from history that under the name Protestants there were later gathered together all those who had separated from the papal church. This name, too, therefore by no means corresponds to the faith of our hearts, since we protest just as much against the false doctrines of all other churches as against those of the Roman Catholic one. To this must be added, moreover, that in our day it is becoming ever more customary for only those to call themselves Protestants, indeed even Evangelical-Protestants, who protest not against human doctrines, but against Christ, his Gospel, and all the sanctuaries of his Church. These have, as is well known, made the great resolve to extinguish altogether the sunlight of the Gospel and to take it down from heaven, and in its place to light the torches, lamps, and oil-lanterns of their own human wisdom, and thus finally to bring to the poor world the long-desired full day of enlightenment and coming-of-age — of which they complain that it has, alas, lost again the light of heathendom and fallen back into the darkness of Christianity!? — Who could reasonably expect us to bear the same name as such Protestants and to be yoked together with them under one yoke?

But since we live in America, some might perhaps also advise us Lutherans, in giving up our former name, rather to call ourselves Methodists. This name indeed sounds strange; yet who would take offense at a name, if only the thing itself were good and godly? Now we certainly cannot deny that the Methodist fellowship must have an exceedingly enticing appearance for those who come from corrupted congregations in Germany, where so many belly-servants sit on the seat of Moses. For what zeal do they find here, by contrast, for converting souls! What zeal in praying, singing, and reading! What openness in confessing their faith in word and deed! How hard most of them labor to win heaven! However many inexperienced persons may regard all this as sure marks of the true Church, it can carry little weight with one who is experienced in God's Word.

What actually matters in the Church of Christ, the Savior tells us in these words: "If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples; and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." (John 8:31-32.) What matters, then, is continuing in Christ's word, or discourse. Certainly, whoever wishes to be a living member of the Church must also show it through his zeal in sanctification. But the holiness of Christians cannot save me; only the pure Word can do that, which they have and in which they remain. And this is precisely what one seeks in vain among the most zealous Methodists. They depart not only, in their teaching on the Holy Sacraments, from the clear word of Jesus Christ, the truthful and almighty One — mocking us as literalists for remaining simply by the words of our Savior, while they prefer to follow their own reason and their false teachers — but they also build almost their entire Christianity, the certainty of their state of grace and their rebirth, upon their unreliable, fluctuating feeling, thus following in this their own heart. Since they do not hold to the Word alone, and do not wish to found everything on it alone, they naturally come to no lasting peace in Christ, torment and torture themselves with their own works, and must in the end hear the word: (Isaiah 55:2) "Why do you spend money for what is not bread, and your labor for what does not satisfy? Listen to me, and eat what is good," etc. Among the Methodists — of whom certainly not a few mean quite well — what is lacking, above all, is the pure doctrine of justification, and even more its right application; therefore so many among them are forever learning and can never come to the knowledge of the truth; therefore so many seek peace within themselves, in their striving and struggling, and do not find it. For Christ alone, who offers himself to us in the Word and wishes to be laid hold of by faith in the Word, is our righteousness before God and our perfect peace. — We Lutherans can therefore in no way call ourselves Methodists, and thereby testify that we would give up the clear, infallible, and unchangeable Word for the semblance of human devotion, works, and feelings. To be sure, so long as a Methodist