# Der Lutheraner_St. Louis Missouri_1846 10 27_S29
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

-an confession, a new, "dangerous sect" — and then, like Pilate, he washes his hands in innocence, rises up, and declares that he too has the honor of being a good Lutheran, that he holds fast, as firmly as anyone, to the doctrine of Luther and of the Reformation of the sixteenth century; that the name Lutheran and Old Lutheran is to him "so beautiful and so dear a name" that he could never bring himself to give it up; in short, that everyone will have to bear him witness that he is a faithful watchman upon the battlements of the Lutheran Zion, who must therefore of course watch with a falcon's eye that nothing un-Lutheran creep in, whether in doctrine or in practice. — We ask once more: can a man play the hypocrite in a more shameless manner than Mr. Wehl does here?

Ah, to what a pass have the Lutherans in America come, that a man who slanders precisely the distinguishing doctrines and practices of the Lutheran Church as popish, and who publicly brands those who still wish faithfully to persevere in the doctrine and the confessional ceremonies of this church, even in this latest age of apostasy, as Puseyites — that is, as secret Catholics — and who slanders and persecutes them in the most dreadful manner as factionalists and disturbers of the church, thereby showing himself to be an enemy (even if the most powerless one) of the Lutheran Church — to what a pass, we say, has it come, that such a man can dare, without blushing, still to call himself publicly a Lutheran, indeed to claim that he holds fast to the doctrine of Luther and the Reformation, and acts according to the calling entrusted to him in his office of watchman?! *) Must not the preacher Weyl believe that all the Lutherans in America have either lost all sense and understanding, so that they do not notice how he slanders, under the new, hated name "Old Lutheranism," the old Lutheranism which he hypocritically praises, or else that all, without exception, who still call themselves Lutherans in America today, do this, just as he does, out of mere hypocrisy?

*) Even the Reformed of this country are beginning to be ashamed of this class of Lutherans, although the latter would very much like to unite with the Reformed into a single church. Among others, a Reformed theologian writes the following in the Chambersburg "Christian Journal of the German Reformed Church" (No. 244): "That the Protestant church in general has departed here (in the Holy Supper) from the doctrine of the Reformers cannot be denied. In Europe this deviation came about through rationalism (the religion of reason); but it occurs no less in America. This is especially striking in the Lutheran Church of this country. Here (namely in a book by the distinguished Reformed theologian, Dr. Nevin) striking passages are brought forward from the recent numbers of the so-called Lutheran Observer (a journal in the English language, as the Hirtenstimme is in German), which all too glaringly expose the shame of its pitiful abandonment of spirit and faith. O Luther! Thou man of God, full of strength and full of life, bastards make themselves broad with thy name, but the rightful inheritance will remain only to the children!" — So writes a Reformed man about the so-called American-Lutheran Church, and indeed on the ground of undeniable truth. — O shame! — What, you Lutherans, is it not time that we learn to be ashamed and at last turn back?

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O you Lutherans who still wish to remain in the faith of your fathers, open your eyes! Will you let yourselves be mocked any longer by wolves who do not even wear the sheep's clothing, but who, pointing to their wolf's pelt and mocking you and God, cry out: Are we not faithful shepherds? Are we not watchful watchmen? — But you, who — with men like Mr. Weyl at their head — have until now still called yourselves Lutherans, indeed have boasted of this name, and yet with heart and mouth reject the doctrine of the Lutheran Church as it is laid down in her confessions, do you wish to go on standing forever, in the eyes of all sensible and honest people, as the most wretched hypocrites? Will you not even once consider what God, who is a God of truth, has threatened in his Word against hypocrites and liars? If you wish to know the fate that will befall you should you not repent, look up what is written at Job 8:13-14; Psalm 5:5-7; Jeremiah 23:15; Revelation 22:15. Go into yourselves, become honest people again, lay aside the name that you have hitherto borne against all truth, and say it plainly and openly, that you do not wish to be Lutherans and that you have only wished to deceive people with this name, and ask God and man for forgiveness. That is the way by which you can come again to an honest name. Then call yourselves whatever you please — what business is that then of us Lutherans? This much at least you can see in advance, that you may then not call yourselves Reformed either, for they too give the heartiest thanks to decline your brotherhood. We have recently heard of a great "World Convention" said to have newly arisen; we think that there, perhaps, if you knock, you might find entrance. But if you continue to wear the mask of hypocrisy and to call yourselves after Luther, then know that we too will continue to testify against you, to expose your hypocrisy to the poor, deceived people, and to cry out day and night to God in heaven against your lying, for as long as we can still move our tongues! What will it come to? God will look into it, and shame will be your reward! Compare Psalm 12.

But enough of this for now! — We had to preface all this in order, first of all, to guard our readers against the misunderstanding that we were defending some newly arisen sect, when we speak up for certain doctrines and practices that are nowadays not infrequently suspected of being popish remnants. From what has been said above it will now, we hope, be clear to every reader that the question is not whether some new, so-called "Old Lutheranism," as Mr. Weyl puts it, but whether the old, true Lutheranism, which is what Mr. Weyl actually means, leads to Rome. We now turn to answering this question.

As for the ceremonies of the Lutheran Church, on whose account she is charged with a kinship to, and an inclination toward, the Roman Church, every reasonable person will admit that if the Lutheran Church has some things that are also found in the Roman Church, this in and of itself cannot prove that the former inclines toward the latter. For were that so, this reproach would have to fall upon every Christian denomination. For do not other parties in Christendom likewise have the same Bible, the same Apostles', Nicene, and Athanasian Creeds, the same baptism, the same preaching office, the same observance of the Sabbath, etc., as the Romanists? Do not other so-called Protestants also have church buildings, with towers on them, bells, organs, the practice of folding the hands, kneeling, and uncovering the head in prayer, and the like? Who, then, would charge the Reformed, the Methodists, the Evangelicals, etc., with an inclination toward Catholicism because they have such things in common with the Catholics? Certainly no one. Whoever regards the mere adoption of certain innocent ceremonies (which he himself, like Mr. Weyl, perhaps considers "child's play") as popery cannot possibly know what popery is, and must regard it as something very innocent indeed; and certainly no one will rejoice more at such a judgment than the papists themselves, for who could better justify the papacy than one who claims that the mystery of antichristian wickedness consists in the use of wax candles, in a priest's robe, and in the reversed position of the preacher at the altar, and the like? (To be continued.)

(Submitted.)
The Lutheran Seminary at Fort Wayne.

After it has pleased Almighty and All-merciful God, by means even of the false union of this our age, to awaken our precious Lutheran Church to new life on both sides of the ocean, faithful children of this church in the German fatherland have, in the labor of their love, also taken heartfelt care for their fellow believers who emigrated to the Lutheran Church here. To this end they have, for the past four years, made it possible for nineteen believing and church-minded men to come over here, in order to serve the Lutheran Church in this country as preachers and schoolteachers, after they had been prepared, examined, and furnished with special instruction for this purpose in their homeland. But more recently the self-sacrificing, self-denying love of our dear brothers on the other side has gone even further. In view of the need here, and in order also to guard against future scarcity, they have conceived the plan of founding a seminary at Fort Wayne, so that believing young men, equipped with the necessary gifts, might there be trained for the future assumption of the holy preaching office in the Lutheran Church. To this end they have not