# Der Lutheraner_St. Louis Missouri_1847 04 20_S90
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

order to leave the country. They dealt more severely with Dr. Peucer, because he was regarded as the ringleader in this whole affair; he did not regain his freedom until after ten years' imprisonment in Pleissenburg Castle in Leipzig. At Dresden too, some heads of the secret Calvinists were removed from their offices, and some were taken into custody. Thus the Church of Saxony was cleansed of this pernicious plague, and the pure doctrine was secured, especially through the Formula of Concord of 1580, against the secret intrigues of the Calvinists.

Unfortunately, however, under the weak government of Elector Christian, the successor of August, the crypto-Calvinist disturbances broke out anew in Saxony. They were chiefly stirred up by the notorious Chancellor Nikolaus Crell, who, being a zealous Calvinist, misused his influence with the Lutheran-minded Elector to introduce the Calvinist religion into Saxony. Thus he managed to obtain a decree at court that the Calvinists should not be named or refuted from the pulpits. Exorcism,*) which had hitherto remained in the Church as a matter of free choice (adiaphoron), was publicly forbidden in favor of the Calvinists. These measures resulted in the expulsion of many upright theologians and preachers. Thus Superintendent Dr. Selnecker at Leipzig, and many other preachers who faithfully presided over their church offices, were driven out of the country. The confusion had risen to the highest degree when God called Elector Christian away from this world by death in 1591.

When Frederick William, Duke of Saxe-Altenburg, became Administrator of the Electorate, the matter soon took a different turn. This prince, as zealous for the pure doctrine as he was discerning, immediately took the most fitting measures to restore the peace of the Church. Chancellor Crell was brought to trial for his offenses, and after ten years' imprisonment was executed by the sword, since he had also been convicted of political crimes. The other heads of the Calvinist party were dismissed from their offices and banished from the country. At the request of the estates, a church visitation was then instituted by the Administrator, in order to weed out the secret Calvinists completely.

*) Exorcism, that is, the solemn threatening command to the evil spirit to depart from the one being baptized and to make room for the Holy Spirit, has, when rightly understood, nothing superstitious in it. For according to Holy Scripture every human being is by nature in the power and kingdom of the devil, and comes through Baptism into the blessed kingdom of Christ, Col. 1:13: "Who has delivered us from the power of darkness, and has translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son." There would be something superstitious about this practice only if one ascribed to the bare formula the power to banish the devil from the one being baptized, or if one asserted that every child to be baptized is also bodily possessed by the devil. But the Lutheran Church has never taught this; this ugly opinion has only been attributed to it by the ill-disposed opposing party. The upright Lutheran teachers set themselves at that time against the abolition of exorcism chiefly for the reason that the Reformed took occasion from this ceremony to accuse the Lutherans of superstitious or papistic doctrine, and because the hatred of the Reformed against this innocent practice arose chiefly from the fact that they did not believe that Baptism truly delivers from death and the devil. The Lutherans could grant them neither the one nor the other without denying the faith; therefore they held it their duty to stand upon their Christian liberty in this matter of adiaphora (things indifferent).

For this purpose four articles concerning the Calvinist errors were drawn up, namely, on the holy Lord's Supper, on the person of Christ, on holy Baptism, and on election by grace. These articles attained in Saxony the standing of a confession of faith, and were counted among the symbolical books. One sees from this historical account how much cunning and intrigue were employed by the adversaries in order to displace the pure Lutheran doctrine in that very land, and at that very university, where Luther himself had lived and taught, and to smuggle in the Calvinist doctrine — which, however, was prevented through God's gracious governance.

But one also sees how there were still people in those days, even among the princes, who held fast with fidelity to the treasure of truth, and who hated from the bottom of their hearts all false doctrine, however much it sought to adorn itself with the name and reputation of great and learned men and with a great show of piety.

The aforementioned Visitation Articles are no less important for our time, because they clearly show that the difference between the Lutherans and the Reformed is not as slight and insignificant as people would now gladly be persuaded, in order to bring about an outward union between the two; but rather that the difference between the Lutherans and the Reformed concerns the highest and most important doctrines, on which the foundation of salvation stands or falls. For to an upright Christian who has care and earnestness for his salvation, it cannot be a matter of indifference what he is to believe and hold concerning the person of his God and Redeemer Jesus Christ, concerning his most holy Sacraments, Baptism and the Lord's Supper, and concerning his eternal election to salvation.

For the frivolous person, unconcerned about his eternal salvation, it is of course far more pleasant to hear that there is no difference between Lutherans and Reformed; for this spares him the trouble of examining the matter more carefully and of inquiring after the true ground of the doctrine. He is thereby confirmed in his carnal delusion that doctrine is not a matter of conscience. That is without doubt, in most cases, the reason why they seize upon the union that has now become so fashionable as a welcome thing.

There now follow the aforementioned Visitation Articles, as proof of how great and important the difference between our faith and the Reformed faith is:

Christian Visitation Articles.

Anno 1592.
The First Article.

On the Holy Supper.
The pure and true doctrine of our Church concerning the Holy Supper.

1. That the words of Christ, "Take and eat, this is my body; drink, this is my blood," are to be understood simply and according to the letter, just as they read.

2. That in the Sacrament there are two things given and received together: an earthly one, that is, bread and wine, and a heavenly one, that is, the body and blood of Christ.

3. That this happens here below on earth, and not up above in heaven.

4. That it is the true, natural body of Christ that hung on the cross, and the true, natural blood that flowed from Christ's side.

5. That the body and blood of Christ are received not only spiritually by faith, which can also happen apart from the Lord's Supper, but there also orally, together with the bread and wine, though in an inscrutable and supernatural manner, as a pledge and assurance of the resurrection of our bodies from the dead.

6. That the oral partaking of the body and blood of Christ takes place not only by the worthy, but also by the unworthy who come to it without repentance and true faith — yet to unequal ends: by the worthy unto salvation, but by the unworthy unto judgment.

The Second Article.

On the Person of Christ.
The pure and true doctrine of our Church on this article, concerning the person of Christ.

1. In Christ there are two distinct natures, the divine and the human; these remain unmixed and unseparated for eternity.

2. These two natures are so personally united with one another that there is only one Christ, one person.

3. On account of this personal union it is rightly said — and it is also in fact and in truth so — that God is man and man is God, that Mary bore the Son of God, and that God has redeemed us through his own blood.

4. Through the personal union, and the exaltation that followed upon it, Christ according to the flesh has been set at the right hand of God, and has received all power in heaven and on earth, and has also become a partaker of all divine majesty, honor, power, and glory.

Third Article.

On Holy Baptism.
The pure, true doctrine of our churches on this article of holy Baptism.

1. That there is only one Baptism, and one washing — not the kind that removes the uncleanness of the body, but one that washes us from sins.

2. Through Baptism, as the washing of regeneration and renewal by the Holy Spirit, God makes us blessed and works in us such righteousness and cleansing from sins, that whoever perseveres in this covenant and trust to the end is not lost, but has eternal life.