# Der Lutheraner_St. Louis Missouri_1847 09 20_S13
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

...to find [any] who had abandoned their Lutheran or Reformed confession for the sake of union, or who were minded to abandon it. If our authorities, if our faculties, have abandoned their Lutheran or Reformed confession and turned themselves into caretakers of a union in doctrine and confession, then that is bad enough, etc."

"Beloved, believe not every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God. For many false prophets have gone out into the world. Hereby shall ye know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God." 1 John 4:1-2.

On this Luther writes:

It is spoken more forcefully: "Believe not every spirit," than if he had said: Believe not every doctrine. For under the pretext of the Spirit they (the false spirits) take it upon themselves to do everything and ... reproach us for making so much of the letter and of the fleshly word. Therefore he commands that the spirits be tested — as if he would say: Such people will come to you who boast of the Spirit; but test the spirits.

But how are we to test them? By what shall we recognize the spirit of error and the spirit of truth? Hold everything they teach against this saying: "Christ Jesus came into this world to save sinners." 1 Tim. 1:15. What agrees with this, accept as being of God. But what does not agree with it, believe to be of the father of lies.

That Christ has come in the flesh — this the Jews first of all steadfastly deny. And the spirit of the Pope is of no better kind. For the Pope does indeed confess these words, "Christ has come in the flesh," but he denies its fruit. That, however, amounts to just as much as saying: Christ has not come in the flesh. For Christ's coming in the flesh did not happen so that he, for his own sake, should become a man, but that he might make us blessed. The Pope condemns this article in his bulls — that we are made righteous through the righteousness of Christ alone, which is nevertheless the effect of his incarnation. But Paul contradicts this in plain words: Rom. 3:28. Accordingly we conclude from this text that the Pope's spirit is of the devil, because he denies that Christ has come in the flesh, in that he denies the power and effect of Christ's coming.

The spirit of the Sacramentarians (the Reformed) grossly denies that Christ has come in the flesh, when they say that the flesh of Christ profits nothing; likewise, that the Spirit must do everything, that Baptism is nothing. Therefore it is not of God. Satan can indeed tolerate the text according to its words, but he seeks to rob it of its power. The Pope leaves him the shell and takes out the kernel. For he does indeed confess

Christ's righteousness, yet in such a way that our own righteousness is not set aside. And that amounts to just as much as confessing nothing at all.

Christ has come in the flesh, that he might be present with us in Baptism and in the Holy Supper. Now every spirit that goes so far as to teach that Christ does everything through the Sacraments — that one is of God; that one gladly hears of Christ and gives thanks for it. For he understands that Christ is his own, and that he has come in the flesh. Accordingly this is spoken very emphatically. Behold, this is the test of every spirit, whether it be of God or of the devil. (Luther's Works, Halle edition, IX, 1008 ff.)

Repaying Parents in Kind Is Pleasing to God!
(1 Tim. 5:4, 7.)

A father gave over to his children all his goods, house, farmstead, fields, and all his provisions; he relied on his children to support him in return. Now after he had been with his son for a while, the son grew weary of him and said: Father, this night a little boy was born to me, and where your armchair stands, there his cradle must stand. Would you not go to my brother, who has a bigger room?

Now after he had been with the other son for a while, that one too grew tired of him and said: Father, he likes to have a warm room, and it makes my head ache, will he not go to my brother, who is a baker? The father went; and after he had also been with the third son for a while, he became a burden to him too, so that this one said: Father, at my place people go in and out as in a dovecote, and you cannot take your afternoon nap as you would wish; would you not go to my sister Kathe, who lives by the town wall.

The old man noticed how things stood, and said to himself: Well then, I will set out and try it with my daughters. Women have a softer heart.

But after he had been with his daughter for a while, she too grew weary of him and thought it was a constant mortal fright for her whenever the father went to church or elsewhere and had to descend the high stairs. At sister Elisabeth's he would need to climb no stairs, for she lived on the ground floor.

So that he might depart in peace, the old man pretended to agree with her and went to his other daughter. And after he had been with her a short time, she grew tired of him and let it come to his ears through a third party that her lodging by the Pegnitz was too damp for a man afflicted with gout; her sister, the gravedigger's wife at St. John's, had an exceedingly dry dwelling.

The old man himself thought she might be right, and betook himself outside the gate to his youngest daughter, Lena. And when he had been with her two days, her little son said to his grandfather: "Yesterday, at the front door, Mother said to cousin Elisabeth: For you there could be no better lodging than a chamber under the earth, such as father makes." At these words the old man's heart broke, so that he sank back into his armchair and died. St. John now took him in, and is more merciful to him than his six children. For he has let him sleep in his chamber ever since. Hence the proverb: a father can more easily feed six children than six children one father. From Luther's Table Talk.

The Punished Mockery of Grace at Table.

Professor D. relates the following incident, which took place in his presence when, in the year 1765, he traveled on foot to Halle to study there, passing through Leipzig on the way. There he put up with his traveling companion at an inn on Nicolai Street, where he found a number of students — some from Jena, some from Halle, and others — who were in very high spirits. A long table stood set for them, since it was just noon, and D., together with his companion, being beginners not yet belonging to that company, received their place at a separate table. All then gathered around the table and said their grace in silence, or at least assumed the posture of those praying; only one, who had already distinguished himself earlier by coarseness and unbridled conduct, did not observe this custom, but rather burst out laughing and mocked the others thus: "What is it you want, then? Do you not see what is there? You want to pray for food — it is already on the table!" The two seated beside him tried to check his mockery, and the one to his left in particular said to him: We pray that we may enjoy the food with cheerfulness and health. "Oh, I shall manage that just as well as you," the other retorted, "without needing to pray for it." — Who knows, replied the other, whether you will be able to do it so cheerfully. — They now sat down; the soup was passed around, and the turn came also to the wild fellow, who up to now had given free rein to his recklessness. But scarcely had he brought the first spoonful to his mouth when he was struck down; he toppled backward with his chair and fell dead to the floor! — Terror was general among those present, and they called to mind the words of Paul: "Be not deceived, God is not mocked." Gal. 6:7. Let us too, dear reader, always bear this in mind, and guard our heart and our mouth against sin.

Whoever pursues Christ's cause can always be confident and at peace, whether he accomplishes something or not, whether he prevails or is overcome.

When Luther traveled on foot to Augsburg in the year 1518, to answer for his cause before Cardinal Cajetan, he stopped along the way in Weimar at the Franciscan monastery there