# Lehre und Wehre_St. Louis Missouri_August 1858_S256
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

256 Church-Historical Notes of the Present Time.

"I ask the young man or the girl who has not forgotten how the fear of the hideous tyrant and of the smoking hell destroyed every young hope and embittered every childlike joy, whether they can do other than curse such a God and such a religion!" —

— Enough from this devilish rag. It is terrible that not only isolated depraved individuals think and speak so of their Creator and Savior, but that in America as well as in Europe there already exist many societies, made up of numerous members, who seek by every means to spread their hatred of God and of Christ with the heat of satanic zeal. Consider that these monstrous people live within the bounds of the church, and for the most part have probably been baptized. Can apostasy go any deeper than for a man to declare his God, who created him and shed his blood for him on the cross, to be a being of devilish wickedness, that is, a devil, and to curse him? O the blind chiliasts, who still expect the "apostasy" to come! The apostasy is here in the fullness of its satanic depth. Scripture is being fulfilled before our eyes. The Lord can come at any moment. Yes, come, Lord Jesus!! Amen. —

II. Abroad.

The Löhians. It is an old experience that when orthodox Christians betray the jewel of pure doctrine, they then fall to works and seek their rest and their glory therein. An example of this are the Löhians. Not only do these, the more they abandon pure doctrine, become ever more work-mongering, but they also let themselves be trumpeted before the public, indeed sometimes blow their own trumpets. Thus there appears in the "Evangelische Kirchenzeitung" of Berlin of Jan. 8 a lengthy correspondence article from a Löhian, who recounts to the great united public all the great and small deeds of his own people down to the last penny, and even deeds done by others as though self-accomplished. The practical Löhians understand their time; they know quite well that a register of all sorts of works now makes a quite different impression than does the pure Gospel.

Leipzig. In the night of May 12 Professor Dr. G. B. Winer died, having completed his 69th year.

Hanover. By an ordinance of March 25, 1858, the consistory at Stade has authorized the clergy of the duchy to bring back into use again some elements of the church discipline that had been entirely abolished in the previous century. The ordinance says: to be sure, a more far-reaching or complete restoration of church discipline is not yet to be thought of for the present. One must for now be content with the withdrawal of ecclesiastical honors in certain notorious cases, such as, for example, in the case of fallen persons, the refusal of the bridal wreath at the wedding, or the reproof — without naming the name — from the pulpit of concubitus antecipatus, except that the withdrawal of ecclesiastical honors is not to be limited merely to sins of unchastity. For it is also right, in glaring cases, to refuse Christian burial to the godless and unbelieving, if they have not before their end reconciled themselves with the church through an open confession of their guilt. Perhaps the exclusion of such persons from serving as godparents, and similar matters, are also meant to be included here, a point on which the consistory has reserved final decision to itself. The same body counsels great caution, which can never be desired more than when such ticklish arrangements are to be introduced into practice.

What is granted by the ordinance admittedly does not look like very much. The old provinces of the kingdom, especially under the domain of the Lüneburg church order, have long possessed more, including public church penance. And yet, considering the time and circumstances, it is a very gratifying step forward, showing us what we may expect from this authority and from the church government, which will hopefully pursue the path it has entered upon as surely as it does cautiously. God grant it so!