# Lehre und Wehre_St. Louis Missouri_Februar 1858_S53
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

Menius and Flacius in Their Dispute over Ministry and Priesthood. 53

...we see someone unjustly led to death, we are altogether bound to help him, to rescue him, and not to withdraw our hand. If, then, one is so very much obliged to rescue those who are being led to bodily death, how much more those who are being torn by false teachers toward the spiritual, eternal death of their souls? — —" — —

"Eleventhly: the apostles pointed out to Christ, in Mark 9 and Luke 9, that there was one who cast out devils in Christ's name, though he did not follow Christ, and they asked that he forbid him. But Christ was not merely unwilling to forbid it, but confirmed his action and said: He who is not against us is for us. Likewise, whoever casts out devils in my name cannot soon speak evil of me. By this Christ shows that it pleases him when people — whoever they may be — help to increase and spread his kingdom, even by the least service. So too Paul writes, Philippians 1, that some Christians preach out of good will, some out of ill will, and some even wrongly, to Paul's own vexation. Yet he is glad that only Christ is preached." — —

For the rest, Flacius now goes on to explain how he too has not come forward in the struggle against the errors without any human calling, or one that occurred through human means: he was a student of Holy Scripture, had studied theology at Basel, Tübingen, and Wittenberg; he had been a Master and, as such, had had to vow to teach and promote faithfully not only Philosophy but also the true religion; he had been a teacher of the Holy Scriptures of the Old Testament in its original language at Wittenberg; and finally he had been confirmed in this his undertaking by many respected men, above all by the excellent superintendent of Hamburg, Dr. Aepinus.

In closing, Flacius turns once more against the false interpretation that Menius gives to the passages cited above from Luther's writings:

"As for Menius wishing to deceive simple Christians with a few sayings of Dr. Martin's about the calling, because he can bring forward nothing clear from God's Word: one must know that all such sayings tend toward this, that one not called should not force his way into another's office, nor otherwise create disorder by his action outside of utmost necessity — which I have not done. Therefore such sayings do not concern me. But I have many other, clear sayings of Luther's, where he proves plainly against the Papists that all Christians are priests, and have full power to teach — yet in such a way that they avoid disorder and offense outside of utmost necessity."

"Let one read his book De instituendis ministris, written to the Bohemians, in which he plainly confesses and says that he has proven, in many writings against the Papists, that we are all priests, that the keys have been entrusted to all, that all may teach and preach. Likewise in the book De captivitate Babylonica, in the book Of the Three Walls of the Papacy, in the