# Der Lutheraner_St. Louis Missouri_1847 02 09_S69
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

...will not concede to the opposing party (would to God) that they were more inclined toward peace and unity than I. For this matter is no small thing, and their (the Reformed's) claim has a plausible appearance, and also has a great following among all who are accounted learned throughout the whole German land, for reasons I know; but they lack one thing—they do not know how hard it is to stand before God without God's Word. Presumption and wantonness can act in no other way than as they act.

(To be continued.)

(Submitted.)

Correspondence from Mecklenburg-Schwerin.

From the 6th to the 8th of August of last year a gathering of about 50 persons took place in Ludwigslust. Mecklenburg is a Lutheran land; nevertheless several pastors and congregations had joined the so-called North German Mission Society located in Hamburg. This society is, according to its confession, unionistic, in that it receives and sends out both Reformed and Lutheran students, obligating the former to the Heidelberg Catechism and the latter to the Augsburg Confession. At the aforementioned gathering, one person argued that one could join the North German Mission Society with a good conscience, since it professed the Augsburg Confession. Against this, the others declared that the Lutheran Church could support only such a mission society as held to the entire body of Lutheran confessional writings. But since the North German Mission Society rejects the Formula of Concord and the Small Lutheran Catechism, renouncing it was not merely justified but also required. Only four persisted in supporting the North German Mission, because it was too hard for their hearts to part from friends. May the Lord now further help that love for the church's confession overcome all human considerations, for a general resolution to abandon this union displeasing to God has not yet been reached.

Thereupon Superintendent Kliefoth made known a proposal from Kassel and Berlin, in which it was suggested that, on the basis of the Augsburg Confession, a general German mission to China be formed. This, however, was rejected, because our whole confession was not recognized as its basis. Against this, almost all promised to support the Lutheran Church of North America, which has found an influential friend in Deacon Karsten. He enjoys great respect and has great zeal for everything he undertakes. May the Lord bless the work. Once our clergy have renounced the ambiguous workings of the North German Mission, the return to pure doctrine will proceed ever more decisively. Our age presses everywhere, on every side, toward decisiveness; all halfheartedness is despised.

Gladdening is the zeal with which the Duchy of Lauenburg strives to preserve pure doctrine, in which especially the labor of Superintendent Catenhusen has been blessed. It is to be hoped that this example will also prove fruitful for Mecklenburg. Through the call of Professor Delitzsch to the University at Rostock we have gained much. He grasps his calling as a lecturer so faithfully that his preparation costs him up to eight hours daily.

At the same time he is friendly and unassuming toward all, free from all excessive busyness. He will accomplish something substantial here and is already recognized here. I hope that his work will prove a blessing for our mission. He is also a member of a commission appointed to examine the candidates and instructed at the same time to obligate them to all the confessional writings, which otherwise happened only at ordination. Rejoice with me over the work of the Lord, and pray for it at the same time."

Indeed, all faithful members of our precious church should surely unite in earnest intercession and implore the Lord of the church that he not thrust his lampstand from the altar there in our old homeland. For it is easy enough to recognize from the above how deeply the corruption of an indifferent spirit of union must have taken hold, when one duly considers the syncretistic scheming of the Berlin-Kassel proposal, and when one considers that in an old Lutheran land like Mecklenburg even upright men can still be in doubt whether one should separate from the halting Hamburg mission or not.

Yet we must also rightly rejoice and thank the Lord when we hear how whole lands are more and more awakening from their evil slumber and returning to churchly consciousness. And we must also thank God that there still is a Lutheran Church in Germany. I point only to the small country of Lauenburg, where even amid the harsh storms of the present age people have not become unfaithful to our precious confessions, where the old church and worship orders have never fallen into disuse, where the good hymnals and catechisms could never be displaced by modern shallowness.

Finally, in view of the hard struggles under which the truth there must first assert itself anew even among its own children, over against the almost universally penetrated shallowness and falsehood, we ought earnestly to be alarmed at the recklessness with which the fallen-away "Lutheran" congregations of so many states here have plunged themselves into the very same ruin, preparing for their descendants, at best, these same birth-pangs and struggles.

O small flock of the genuine Lutheran Church, hold fast what you have, that no one rob you of your crown. Should, then, occasionally even the unintelligent—as Pastor Cronenwett has recently done—revile the firm fidelity that they surely do not comprehend, because they do not possess it (let Mr. Cronenwett think only of his shameful takeover of the congregation at Toledo!)—indeed, should they even pray against those who, in matters of Scripture and our scriptural confession, allow no other consistency than this: to teach and act simply and harmoniously according to its whole scope and content (not, as all heretics do, according to isolated pieces torn out of context)—then let that not trouble you greatly, but bear the reproach of Christ and know that he is with you always, even to the end of the world. A. C.

The Columbus Conference.

The "Lutheran Standard," in its issue of January 6 of this year, communicates a report of the proceedings of the Columbus Conference of the Evangelical Lutheran Synod of Ohio. Among other things, the report states:

"After a careful investigation (?) had been conducted concerning the following subject: whether the official acts can be regarded as valid which are performed by candidates after the time fixed in the license granted to them has expired and the license has not been renewed—the following was adopted as the opinion of the Conference:

Whereas the evangelical preaching office is of divine institution and of high responsibility, its functions cannot be entrusted to those who are not regularly authorized thereto through the venerable customs of our holy church;—and since cases occur in which persons are deposed from their dignity as servants of Jesus because they render themselves unworthy of the holy office, and who nevertheless perform all official acts to the great detriment of religion and morality, bringing reproach upon the cause of Christ; therefore be it

Resolved, that all Actus Ministeriales (all official acts, such as baptism, administration of the Holy Supper, solemnization of marriage, and confirmation) of Wm. Nichmann and Conrad Mees, and of all others who stand in the same relation to the church, are, in the opinion of this Conference, invalid."

We confess that we would never have imagined that a conference to which the editor of the "Lutheran Standard," Mr. Spielmann, also belongs, could arrive at such a resolution. This resolution is supposedly meant to zealously defend the honor of Christ, his cause, and his church, and to avert an insult to the same; but we must loudly testify that this very resolution contains a manifest desecration of the divine name, of the gospel, and of God's holy institutions. For what does this resolution say? It declares: if we, members of a conference in Ohio, have not given a preacher a license for it, or if the authorization we granted