# Der Lutheraner_St. Louis Missouri_1847 02 09_S66
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

How many a one imagines himself to be strong,
and believes he understands much.
The way of the newborn children*) —
his soul has not kept it.
He already considers himself rich and satisfied enough,
but does not notice the secret deception.†)
*) 1 Pet. 2:2. †) 1 Cor. 4:8.

He thinks that because Christ is in him,
he is free from outward means;
prayer and Word and Sacrament,
which he regards as child's work,
are only the letter, which one can do without —
he worships God in spirit and truth.

Whoever publicly honors Jesus,
hears his precious Word in churches,
uses and loves the Sacraments,
gladly also practices his prayers aloud,
and cannot forsake the assembly —
such a one as this is not yet counted a real man.

Col. 3:16; 4:2. Matt. 6:9-13. Heb. 10:25.

O what misery! if that is called manly:
that one, through his own spirit,
exalts himself into false security,
and no longer walks God's ways,
which he has appointed for all believers.
Ah, examine yourself! Have you not already fallen?

There another says openly:
The confessional drives me away from you,
where the wicked are absolved,
where almost a trade in indulgences reigns,
yes, where so much distress of conscience
threatens the faithful shepherd along with the sheep.

Let the abuse go to hell.
Only let the right use stand.
Who says that eating is harmful,
because some gorge themselves to death?
By that measure God's mild ray of grace,
yes, all his gifts, would have to be sinful.

Praise God that this school remains,
which still drives many to Jesus.
Here the fish is brought to the net.
Here the received power*) is exercised.
Here there is such varied opportunity,
which extends its hands to us for the soul's salvation.

*) John 20:23.

Yes, you say, why is forgiveness
announced to the wicked?
Friend, because one does not know the hearts,
because the hypocrite calls himself a sinner,
yes, as he says, earnestly repents of his guilt,
and so cries out for grace through Christ's blood.

For whoever still lives freely in sin
and resists God before his eyes,
and also promises no amendment,
such a one is rightly not absolved.
That some hireling can act otherwise,
the church views this with lament.

Yet a faithful servant rejoices,
when he rightly, with authority
and with joy, offers salvation
to the whole crowd,
indeed can lay his hand upon each one;
that is salvation — so only accept it!

For we are not Moses' messengers.
We do not serve the judgment of wrath.
We say, peace be with you!
Here the whole kingdom of God draws near!
But if you despise the look of grace,
then the peace turns back at once to us.

You think: if only the hireling would not
pronounce the holy forgiveness,
who himself does not yet have forgiveness!
My empty heart is not satisfied this way.
Reverence, confidence, and fervor recede;
then I have achieved as good as nothing.

1 Cor. 11:23.

O dear heart, you harm yourself.
Your Savior demands: believe me!
It is enough that the Word and the office are his.
The servant may be a wicked servant.
A king very often distributes the bread for the almshouse
through unfaithful servants.

You perhaps say, why should I confess at all?
What use is this institution to me still?
What is absolution for?
I already have forgiveness.
Why then should I first fetch it from men?
That no longer befits God's children.

O yes, my dear friend, do you not know
what Jesus says to the disciples?*)
How is it, then, that what Christ's wisdom
can ordain does not suit you?
He lets the gifts that abide with him
pass, out of love, through the hands of men.

*) John 20:23. Matt. 18:18.

Everyone finds forgiveness
who can honestly entreat Jesus;
but so that one may be firmly assured,
there are various seals:
not only the Word, the Spirit, the Sacrament,
but also this, which is called absolving.

Ah, thank the Lord for this,
that his goodness grants to me and to you
so many seals of grace;
for whoever thinks of building on a firm foundation
is rightly all the more glad,
the more help God offers him toward faith.

You will still be a sinner after all,
and cry out daily for forgiveness.
For that is the way of all the saints.*)
And whoever does not keep his heart humble,
him the pitiable judgment will certainly meet:
the strong have no need of our physician.

*) Ps. 32:6. The new Methodist "saints" do not have this way.

Another is uncommonly zealous
that among us there are customs
which are observed in divine service,
perhaps because he does not understand them;
here, in his view, baptism is not done rightly;
there, he thinks, the Lord's Supper is handled too poorly.

O friends! let the outward be as it is,
for Jesus looks into the heart.
Whatever is not sinful in itself,
let every Christian do or leave undone,
so far as he does it in proper order.
To the pure, indeed, all things are pure and good.

There I saw one of ours go
and stand among a foreign flock.
The good shepherd's face
and pasture he neither seeks nor knows.
Yet he thinks he already pleases Jesus,
merely because he has joined himself to others.

Another goes out from us
and seeks a free house for his soul.
He believes we are too restrictive
and that his conscience is aggrieved;
an appearance of the finest freedom smiles upon him,
he does not think that he can deceive himself.

The illusion of the senses passes by.
He notices that he is bound.
He now eats a slavish bread for the soul;
freedom of conscience suffers distress —
the freedom that Jesus' blood earned for him,
the freedom that, praise God, still flourishes among us.

Note. How much that God has not forbidden is made a matter of conscience for the Methodists!

But you who go out from us,
and do not stand in true contrition,
you who call us a Babel,
and do not know your own Babel;
you who esteem everything so contemptuously:
who, then, has appointed you as judges?

You poor souls! let the splinter be.
Go, rather, into your own heart.
Remove your own beam first.
Search out and sweep your own house.
Then come, and seek with a loving mind,
and do not throw out the child with the filth.

Of some, John's word holds true:
they go out from our midst;
what does this reveal to us?
"They were not of our company."
For if they agreed with us in Jesus,
they would indeed have remained with us.
1 John 2:19.

If fear and dryness drive some,
self-satisfaction drives others.
To them the Word and its work are too poor.
No faithful teacher does it right.
They see all things better than others,
and want to be masters without a call.
Often a poor simple soul hears
how much some can boast;*)
he becomes confused, troubled, alarmed;
a desire for it is awakened in him.
He seeks salvation, he listens, he runs,
and does not notice that he strays from the way.

*) The enthusiasts even now boast much of the certainty and joy of their faith, and thereby delude many a simple person.

Another listens to the boasting —
he already has faith, grace, and rest —
yet he is a tender child,
who does not so quickly come to his senses;
he does not trust himself, he thinks: it could be so!
He leaves the foundation and goes off into foreign ways.

He repeats the judging after others,
and does it to Jesus' own shame;
he casts away so many sheep,
and strikes down the shepherd along with them,
and yet cannot see the sin
of those who now stand nearest around him.

You true disciples, do not think
that this dispute is directed at you.*)
We love Christ's members greatly;
therefore the separation pains us all the more.
We love you, whoever you are,
and rejoice over your salvation.

*) Even among the sects there are children of God, to whom the corruption of the same remains hidden.

But you who do not consider
what oppresses and grieves Jesus' brothers;
you who seek only your own —
where, then, is the fruit of the Spirit?
You gather souls, but not for him.
Is it right to draw the children away from their mother*)?

*) From the church, which through holy baptism bore them to Christ.

You attack Jesus' members,
whom your mouth can slander.
What do you think? Does not the Head feel it,
in whom their soul believes?
Where does it stand written that he does not belong to the Lord,
whom his grace converts without you?

You entice by the gospel,
but soon turn hearts around.
They come into the law,
and no longer know themselves who they are.
And if anyone ever comes to his senses and asks,
he is driven yet deeper into constraint.

You praise the gospel.
But what does our Lutheranism teach?
Did you not learn it from us?
How does it come that you distance yourselves so?
You tear pasture and sheep away from us,
and thus make yourselves great with another's labor.
From many a one you take away his foundation,
and yet make known to him nothing new.
How does it come that he rejoices over it? —
The matter merely wears a new garment.