# Lehre und Wehre_St. Louis Missouri_November 1856_S341
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

Church Conditions in the Coburg Region. 341

...death, singing off one argument after another: "I shall not die in death! I am convinced by reasons which, the more I search, I find within my own being," etc. In the Hildburghausen hymnal there is found a small appendix of "old hymns still unimproved" (!), and even there the hymn "A Mighty Fortress" etc. is introduced, or, as it were, justified by the words: "So sang the fathers."

Alongside such hymns, the congregation now finds in the house of God a few paltry remnants of the rich and wonderful liturgy of our dear Lutheran Church. On the great festivals, after an introit verse, the Gloria is found, then the first verse of "All Glory Be to God on High," etc., the responsory and collect, a hymn-verse, a Scripture lesson, the chief hymn, the sermon, the prayer from the pulpit, a hymn-verse, and, when there is no Communion, the intonation, collect, benediction, and closing verse. On Sundays and minor festivals the Gloria and "All Glory Be to God on High," etc., are omitted, and the Scripture lessons are followed immediately by the church announcements. In the capital city of Coburg two Scripture lessons are found, separated by a hymn-verse. In this city even the celebration of Holy Communion is joined to the main service only as an exception — that is, on the occasion of a centennial festival or an ordination.

The sermon itself is, in most places, full of false doctrine and moralizing. But where believing preaching does occur, it is difficult for the people to understand, because the fanatics of reason have long since substituted other meanings for the biblical words. Thus the believing preacher must now contend with confusion of language and of concepts, and yet, in doing so, he is supposed to preach briefly, at most half an hour. He is not even permitted to enjoy unimpaired the great joy of being allowed to proclaim the Word of the living God. He has scarcely left the pulpit before chattering and other unrest begin in many congregations, and it is made quite difficult for souls truly desirous of salvation to edify themselves.

That the taverns, bowling alleys, and dance-grounds fill up once the afternoon service has ended need hardly be specially mentioned. For it is generally known that Satan has, in these last times, brought things so far that he is permitted to cast out his snares and nets precisely on the days of the Lord, and that it is there he makes his richest catches.

But whence, then, does our people receive its spiritual nourishment on the workdays? Above all, the "Village Gazette" is prized and esteemed as highly as if it were the Gospel. Whatever it says must, in the opinion of the great majority, be true. And yet this newspaper, published in the city of Hildburghausen, has, the longer the more decidedly, entered into enmity with the Gospel and the Church. Indeed, it has quite recently declared expressly and without reservation that it is a delusion out of a dark age to distinguish among men between children of God and children of the world. (Incidentally, it has a correspondent in Bavaria — if he really does live in Bavaria — who seems to have made it his task to...