# Der Lutheraner_St. Louis Missouri_1847 09 08_S7
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

of God is preached purely and the holy sacraments administered unadulterated according to Christ's institution. In the second part he showed that the Lord is present for salvation only to those who are still before the Lord — that is, who do not interpose their heart, nor their reason, nor their own righteousness against God, but who are silent in humility and think in their hearts: "Speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth."

It was pointed out in this connection how Luther in particular had been a man who was still before the Lord. Confession and Communion followed, in which, as it seemed, almost the whole congregation took part. The hymns were quite uplifting and sweetly accompanied by musical instruments. In the afternoon we preached on Psalm 27:4–6. May the Lord, as often as the remembrance of his name is renewed also in this church, come to those assembled and bless them, and make the congregation into a city of God upon a high mountain, that shines forth through pure Lutheran doctrine and pure, godly zeal.

The Shepherd's Voice in Baltimore.

In the report kindly sent to us of the proceedings of the 9th session of the Western District Synod of the Ev. Lutheran Church of Ohio, held at Delaware, Ohio, on the 28th of May, 1847, and following days, we find a committee report from which it can be seen how poor Mr. Weyl is exerting every effort to keep his wretched, un-Lutheran "Church Paper and Shepherd's Voice" alive, and to recruit accomplices for his powerless struggle against Lutheranism, which he calls Ultra-Lutheranism. The report is as follows:

No. 13 is a letter from the editor of the "Lutheran Shepherd's Voice," the Reverend C. G. Weyl, in which he makes a proposal to the Western District Synod for the joint publication of a German church paper under the name "Lutheran Church Paper and Shepherd's Voice," and says that he intends by this an approach "toward Christian harmony and unity in our Lutheran Church." He sets forth seven conditions for the execution of this plan, and closes with the remark that "by such a concentrated, brotherly cooperation alone, any false power and harmful influences — such as, for example, the English anxious bench and German Ultra-Lutheranism — could be overthrown." Your committee respectfully recommends that the letter named be read aloud and the following resolution be adopted concerning it:

Resolved, that this synod, having already taken preliminary steps toward the publication of a German Evangelical Lutheran periodical, and moreover not yet being convinced that the Shepherd's Voice has taken a genuinely Lutheran standpoint, cannot for the present give further consideration to the editor's proposals.

W. F. Lehmann.
Carl G. Reichert.
Georg Forster.

This report was adopted in its entirety by the synod.

Lady Music.
By Luther.

Of all the joys upon the earth, none can become finer than the one I give with my singing and with many a sweet sound. Here there can be no evil spirit, where good fellows sing together; here no wrath, quarreling, hatred, or envy remains — all heartache must yield; greed, worry, and whatever else weighs hard upon us departs along with all sorrow. Everyone is also free to know that such joy is no sin, but rather pleases God far more than all the joy of the whole world. It destroys the devil's work, and prevents much wicked murder — this the deed of King David testifies, who often held Saul back with good, sweet harp-playing, so that he did not fall into great bloodshed. It makes the heart still and ready for the divine Word and truth. This Elisha acknowledged, when he found the Spirit through harp-playing. The best time of the year is mine, when all the little birds sing; heaven and earth are full of it, much good song then rings out well; foremost the dear nightingale makes everything joyful everywhere with her lovely song, for which she must always be thanked — much more, though, the dear Lord God, who created her so, to be the true songstress, a mistress of music; to him she sings and leaps day and night, never growing weary of his praise. Him my song also honors and praises, and gives him eternal thanks.

See: In Praise of the Laudable Art of Music. By Mr. Johann Walter. Wittenberg, 1538, with a poetic preface by Dr. Luther.

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A Jesuit's Judgment on the Lutheran Hymns.

The Lutheran hymns have killed more souls (that is, turned them away from the Pope and led them to Christ) than the writings and sermons have: why then should not an orthodox prince use as a remedy what the seducers devised for ruin? (Contzen, Bk. I, Ch. 2, Politica, ch. 19.)

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On Spiritual Weariness.
(See: Luther's Exposition of the Prophet Isaiah, 49:8.)

It is a very grave temptation when we become sated and weary of the Word, and develop a disgust for it. For when Satan first storms this teaching by force through the princes of the world, and afterward by cunning through the heretics, he also secretly tempts each person through the vice of which Scripture speaks, Num. 21:5: "Our soul loatheth this light bread." Now because this vice spreads very far, it does a great deal of harm; for tyrants and heretics actually do the Church good, and bring faith and the Church's teaching into practice; but disgust and carelessness cause people to grow drowsy, secure, weary, and subject to all the arrows of Satan. Therefore this exhortation is necessary, that we be watchful. For my own part, I would truly, in earlier times, have preferred a single psalm — had I rightly understood it — to all the riches of the world; but in those days heaven was as brass, and the earth shut up. Now, however, that the windows of heaven have opened, we are beginning to grow disgusted with it. Whoever has read through the New Testament even once admires himself and thinks there is nothing left that he does not know well. Therefore it will come to pass that the Word will be taken from the ungrateful and given to another people, whom we perhaps do not know.

The Nature of Faith.

"The Sophists (the false wise men of the papacy) think we are fighting about a trifling matter when they hear that we teach concerning faith. For they do not understand and do not know that faith is a change and renewal of the whole nature, such that the eyes, the ears, and the heart itself hear, see, and feel entirely differently from other people. For faith is a living and powerful thing; it is not a drowsy and lazy thought, nor does it float and swim on top of the heart like a goose on the water, but is like water that has been heated and warmed by fire; this water, although it remains water, is nevertheless no longer cold but warm, and is thus quite a different water: so faith, which is the work of the Holy Spirit, makes a different heart, mind, and disposition, and thus makes an altogether new man. Therefore faith is a busy, weighty, and powerful thing, and if one wished to speak of it rightly, it is much more a suffering than an activity. For it changes heart and mind, and whereas reason is accustomed to cling to what is present, faith seizes hold of things that nowhere appear before the eyes, and holds these, against all reason, to be present. And this is the reason that faith is not everyone's possession, as hearing is; for few are believers, while the great mass clings far more to present things (such as money, pleasure, honor, one's own works, etc.), which one feels and grasps, than to the Word.

Now this, then, is the mark and sign of the true and divine promises (to which faith holds fast): that they conflict with reason, and reason will not accept them; but Satan's promises, since they