# Lehre und Wehre_St. Louis Missouri_Mai 1857_S156
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

156 Church-Current-Events.

What the difference between the Lutheran and Reformed church is
supposed to consist in, the "Evangelist," published in Tiffin, Ohio, organ
of the German Reformed, tells us in its issue of March 1 of this year. The
presentation is probably meant to be clever, but is of such a kind that it
can interest us only as a curiosity. As such a curiosity we accordingly
share the article. It says there: "1. The cornerstone of the Reformed
church is the principle" (so not Christ, then, but a principle?) "that God's
Word is the sole rule of life" (So not of faith as well?) "The cornerstone
of the Lutheran church is the principle (?), that we are justified only
through faith in Jesus. The Augsburg Confession passes over the sole
authority of Scripture in silence." (Should read: presupposes the same.)
"All confessions of the Reformed church, however, place it at the very
head." (Unfortunately it stands only at the "head," though, not inside.)
"2. The Reformed church says: Where the Spirit of Christ is, there is
also the church. The Lutheran church, conversely: Where the church is,
there is also the Spirit of Christ." (Untrue! — As the contrast is put
here, the charge does not strike the Lutheran church itself, but rather
half-papists within it.) "The Reformed therefore lay more stress on
conversion, regeneration, and the individual's faith in a personal (!?)
Savior. The Lutherans, however, lay more stress on the means of grace,
the sacraments, on the church as the way to salvation" (oho!) "and on
the office of church minister or preacher." (Rightly understood, the
point about the 'means of grace' is correct; only one must not forget
that where the greatest stress is not laid on the means of grace, the
right stress cannot be laid on conversion, faith, etc. either, for these are
in a certain sense correlates.) "3. The Reformed church is for union,
the Lutheran for separation." (That is true — rightly understood.) "4.
The Reformed church presses for church discipline and a Christian life
as the fruit of faith, the Lutheran church more for right doctrine."
(See the remark on No. 2.) "5. The Reformed church wants to abolish
all practices not expressly prescribed in God's Word." (It does not do
so, of course, because it is not possible, since in God's Word only what
is necessary to salvation is prescribed, while the choice of otherwise
needful ordinances and practices is left to the freedom of the church.)
"The Lutheran church wants to keep everything that cannot be refuted
from God's Word." (Oddly phrased, yet the right thing seems to be
meant, namely that our church is not so foolish as to reject something
merely because the pope holds it too.) "The Reformed are therefore (!)
resolute in their fight against the Roman church and proceed
offensively, while the Lutherans hold only a defensive stance against
it." (Confusion!) "6. The Reformed church wants to be a people's
church, the Lutheran — a state church." (In logic this is called an
elenchus accidentis.) This characterization indeed closes with the
remark: "This is not meant to say that all who call themselves Lutheran
really teach as indicated in these 6 points, nor that all who call
themselves Reformed hold to the same distinctions. This is only the
difference in general" — but even with this qualification this odd
characterization is not helped; it remains — a curiosity, not, we believe,
ill-intended, and one all the more harmless in itself since it is not the
"Evangelist's" own product but, as he himself says, "mostly worked up
after Merle d'Aubigne"! Nonetheless such vague, skewed
characterizations are misleading to many, and therefore harmful.
Hence our critique, composed sine studio et ira.

The Allegheny Synod, assembled in October of last year, declared on
this occasion its continuing attachment to the doctrinal basis of the
General Synod, and at the same time solemnly rejected the often-named
alleged errors of the Augsburg Confession, thereby solemnly severing
itself from the Lutheran church, though retaining the Lutheran name.

Spiritualism, or Spirit-Rapping. What a spread this godless
superstition — which more and more aims at constituting a new,
separate religion —