# Der Lutheraner_St. Louis Missouri_1847 07 13_S125
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

The Lutheran.

"God's Word and Luther's teaching shall never now nor ever pass away."

Edited by C. F. W. Walther.

Volume 3.

St. Louis, Mo., July 13, 1847.

No. 23.

Terms: The Lutheraner appears once every two weeks, at a subscription price of one dollar for out-of-town subscribers, half of which they must pay in advance, and they must also bear the postage. — In St. Louis, each individual issue is sold for 5 cents.

(Submitted.)

Conversation of Two Lutherans on Church Polity.
II.

As soon as the first rays of the young morning sun began to shine, Siegfried found his friend Erich already gathered with his household for morning devotions. A boy brought the family Bible; the little ones stepped up to the table and folded their hands devoutly while the father spoke the prayer, and listened attentively as he read to them the words of eternal truth. Thereupon they edified one another with our beautiful Lutheran hymns, which do not grow old with time but ever young and fragrant awaken the soul to the praise of God and lead it to pasture in fresh meadows. The singing fell silent; a deep stillness followed, as though the lovely tones still found a long echo in their hearts.

"How fine and lovely it is," Siegfried broke in, "when brothers dwell together in unity."

Erich. And how beautiful that our Lord Christ expressly commands this free, brotherly relationship of Christians in the words: One is your Master, but you are all brothers.

Siegfried. Indeed, this only came into its own in the time of the New Covenant, whereas in the Old Covenant parental authority predominated.

E. Christ himself calls us his friends and his brothers. It is indeed overwhelming: Christ our brother and our God.

S. With this reflection we are once again upon the holy mountains, where liberty dwells. There is only one true liberty, of which Christ says: If the Son makes you free, you are free indeed — that is, freedom from the compulsion and curse of the Law and from the bondage of sin, and the freedom to serve God in the manner he reveals to us in his precious Word. Our liberty is the noblest gift of grace which Christ gave to his own when he led captivity captive. Who can sufficiently extol and praise the glory of this precious jewel! Only in its free self-government can the Church unfold its full beauty.

E. Therefore there may also be no rabbi, master, father, or pope in the Church, if we wish to stand fast in the liberty with which Christ has set us free, and not let ourselves be caught again in the yoke of bondage.

S. All fellowship, association, and polity of Christians must be brotherly if it is to be Christian. As soon as a false fatherhood, priesthood, or mastership, whether spiritual or worldly, seeks to rule alone, a new papacy is already present; brotherly love then no longer binds Christians together, but over them threatens angrily the scourge of the law in the hand of tyrants.

E. Let us guard ourselves against such a scourge, Siegfried.

S. As long as we wish to be Christians at all, we may not tolerate that men rule over our consciences or our congregations, but only God alone through his Word.

E. Holy Scripture calls to us so earnestly, so urgently: You are bought with a price; do not become the servants of men.

S. Grace, truth, and liberty is the watchword of our Church; these blessings she gives to everyone who comes to her. Oh, it is a joy to belong to the Church, to the Lutheran Church! We are all one in Christ, free and equal brothers; before God, no more than before one another, does respect of persons count, even though we readily acknowledge a difference of gifts and offices; all things are yours, the Apostle assures us. — Behold, the Church, the queen crowned by God: with her feet she still walks upon the earth, but her heart and her head she has lifted up to heaven.

E. The Apostle indeed says: All things are yours — but the tyrants say, yours is nothing. You know, Siegfried, the tyranny of German consistories is just as hated in America as the tyranny of the papacy. "Could sheep perhaps also choose a shepherd for themselves?" — thus a consistory answered a congregation that wished to call its own pastor itself. I see to my joy that you still love the liberty of the Church; all the more incomprehensible it is to me how you could join a synod.

S. Our synod is a free, Christian, German assembly. "Synod" means assembly — specifically one that occupies itself with church affairs. Surely Lutherans may assemble, or do they not have this freedom?

E. But they may not assemble in order to rob others of their rights and liberties.

S. Nor do they wish to; their constitution states expressly, as the ground for forming a synodical union: the protection and preservation of the rights and duties of pastors and congregations.

E. It is precisely from the side of the pastors that I fear the greatest danger to our church liberty. How easily spiritual pride can afflict them, so that they strive for dominion, and how easily, with their learned education, they can gain the upper hand — and then it is all over for our liberty.

S. Provision has been made for that, for every congregation sends, besides its pastor, also a delegate to the synod, who has the same right to speak, to advise, and to vote as the pastor.

E. But do you fear nothing from the preponderance of the pastors through their learned education?

S. What indeed does a Lutheran fear, when he has God's Word on his side? Neither priests, sects, and factions, nor the wisdom of the whole world, for with God's Word he must be victorious in every dispute. It was a simple Christian who defeated the heathen philosopher by the striking power of his faith, while all the bishops sought in vain to refute him. (See Lutheraner, Vol. 1, No. 1.)

E. So you do not find it questionable?

S. No. Our pastors possess learning and scholarly knowledge in order to serve their congregations with it, not in order to rule over the people by it. Should they actually attempt the latter, they would thereby already cease to be servants of Christ.

E. But there are examples enough of it.

S. Unfortunately so. But what do they prove? On whom does the fault lie, that domineering priests succeed, through their intellectual superiority, in enslaving the congregations of the Lord?