# Der Lutheraner_St. Louis Missouri_1846 12 22_S48
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

Der Lutheraner.

"God's Word and Luther's teaching shall pass away neither now nor ever."

Edited by C. F. W. Walther.

Volume 3.

St. Louis, Mo., December 29, 1846.

No. 9.

Terms: The Lutheraner appears once every two weeks, at a subscription price of one dollar for out-of-town subscribers, who must pay half of this in advance and must also bear the postage. — In St. Louis each single issue is sold for 5 cents.

Registering for Confession.

A Sketch from Life.

By W. Löhe.

(Conclusion.)

Third Dialogue.

Kaspar: You'll be wondering what I want again now.

Pastor: Yes, indeed, Kaspar, you were here just yesterday.

K: Pastor, I haven't been able to sleep the whole night.

Pastor: Why, Kaspar? Was something wrong with you?

K: Nothing at all in body, but inwardly I am sick — I am sick in my poor soul.

Pastor: How is that? Yesterday you were still quite well and upright.

K: That is exactly what drives me back here again. I will just tell you: I lied to you yesterday. I said that I got along quite well with my mother; and you said: That pleases me, Kaspar, for your sake and your mother's, for it is written: The father's blessing builds houses for the children, but the mother's curse tears them down again. Your mother is a widow, you said, and she has no one else left but you; every tear that she must weep over you will burn upon your soul like fire, and God will count them all. But every tear of joy that she sheds over you will be a dew of blessing upon your head, and God will count those too. — I still remember everything you said, and it is all true; but it is not true that I have always gotten along quite well with my mother.

Pastor: Well, I am glad, Kaspar, that you are honest now; I knew well enough that you were not yesterday.

K: No, Pastor, I have treated my mother badly. She has hardly been allowed to say anything, if she did not want to hear a rude word from me; she has had to cook whatever tasted good to me, and if she did not, I sulked the whole day; and when the meat came to the table, I took it for myself, divided it, and kept the best for myself, but whatever I did not want, I left to my mother. And once, when Kräuterhans came by and thought that the world must surely be turned upside-down in that house, I promptly showed him the door, and if he had not gone at once, the cabbage bowl would have gone flying at his head. My mother did nothing but sigh; for a long time now she has said nothing but sighed. But last night all her sighs fell upon my heart at once and nearly crushed it. I have no peace anymore.

Pastor: But what do you want to do now, Kaspar?

K: Yes, Pastor, that is exactly why I have come back here again, so that you can tell me what I should do to find peace.

Pastor: Above all you must confess your sins to God and ask him to forgive them for Christ's sake.

K: Pastor, I have done that. Last night I had to keep sighing without ceasing: O dear God, forgive me my sins, forgive me for treating my poor mother so roughly! O dear Lord Jesus Christ, wash me clean of my wrongdoing and cleanse me from my sin; receive me too, and let even one of your little drops of blood come to my benefit — only one, I kept sighing, only one! —

Pastor: That is right, Kaspar; but now you must also go and ask your mother's forgiveness.

K: I did that this morning; I could not have eaten otherwise. When she brought in the soup, I gave her my hand and said: Mother, forgive me my rudeness, I will become different. But I could say no more, and she too said nothing but: O Kaspar, God grant it! Everything shall be forgiven you by me. And the tears ran down both our cheeks as we then ate the soup so quietly together.

Pastor: If only it lasts now.

K: It will indeed last. God knows that I am in heartfelt earnest; from now on I will carry my mother on my hands, I will make amends as much as I can. Oh, if only I now also knew for certain that God has forgiven me my sins.

Pastor: You have indeed confessed them to him, Kaspar, and it is written: "Then I said, I will confess my transgressions to the LORD — and you forgave the guilt of my sin. Selah." In this you have taken refuge in the one true Sponsor and Advocate; there it cannot fail.

Kaspar: Oh, Pastor, the matter with my mother is not the only thing. I have many other sins besides. I am a good-for-nothing person; I have transgressed all the commandments in thoughts, words, and deeds.

Pastor: The Lord Jesus has become the atonement for our sin, and not for ours only, but also for the sin of the whole world — thus also for yours, however many and great they may be.

Kaspar: Oh, if only I knew that for certain!

Pastor: Do you still remember the words about the Office of the Keys?

K: Yes, I know them: "The Lord Jesus breathed on his disciples and said to them: Receive the Holy Spirit. Whosesoever sins you forgive, they are forgiven them; and whosesoever sins you retain, they are retained."

Pastor: Now, what does that mean?

K: I believe that what the called servants of Christ, by his divine command, do among us — especially when they exclude public and impenitent sinners from the Christian congregation —

Pastor and K (together): — and absolve again those who repent of their sins and wish to amend — that all this is as valid and certain, even in heaven, as if our dear Lord Christ himself dealt with us.

Pastor: Do you truly believe what you have just said?

K: Yes, Pastor, I believe that.

Pastor: Now see, I too am a called servant of Christ, and I say to you, by command and in the name of Jesus: your sins are forgiven you. Go, my son, and sin no more from now on. And tomorrow, at confession, I will also pronounce the absolution to you once more publicly; and when you hear it, take it just as though it concerned you alone, as now, and be assured: it is valid in heaven as well.

K: I thank you, Pastor, I thank you. (He gives him his hand, breaks into tears, and goes out.)