# Der Lutheraner_St. Louis Missouri_1847 09 29_S18
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

... become both: a textbook encompassing the whole counsel of God, and at the same time an inspired devotional book; and if a Christian possessed no other book besides the Bible than a Book of Concord, he would have enough. Nothing more, then, could be wished than that it should be in everyone's hands, and that, alongside the Bible, it should be used as the regular handbook and household book in every family. A second reason why every Lutheran should possess and know the Book of Concord lies in the obligation of every member of the Lutheran Church to be devoted to it out of his own conviction. No one is to accept or believe anything in matters of faith on the authority of a man, not even of an entire church — to believe what the church believes merely because it believes this or that. Even the Lutheran Church, although it can boast, by God's grace, that it is in possession of the truth, the full truth, demands of none of its children that they believe it out of mere piety. It can bear examination, need not shrink from it, and calls upon every one of its children to test its doctrine by Holy Scripture. But how can one test its doctrine if one has not first carefully come to know it? Either one will fall to the Lutheran Church without any personal conviction of the scripturalness of its doctrine — and such church-faith is worth nothing and is no better than that of the Pole who, when asked, "What do you believe?" answered, "I believe what my king believes." Or else it will cost him no particular struggle to exchange his church, whose excellence he does not know, for a sect.

A third reason lies in the duty of every Lutheran Christian to give an answer, to anyone who asks him about it, concerning his own faith and that of his church. Nowadays there is often dispute about church; one says: one church is as good as another; another says: one is as bad as another; one says: one can be saved in any church; another: mine alone is the one that saves. Now what will you say when you are asked, "Well, what do you think about that?" Will you say, "I don't know myself," or, "I will let my preacher answer for me"? By that you would bring little honor to your church. A Christian endowed with the gift of knowledge, of course, does not boast of his knowledge, nor does he seek occasion to dispute out of a love of argument; but where he must and should speak, he speaks in humility and in the fear of God, and ten words spoken with understanding and good reason are worth more than a thousand spoken in zeal without understanding.

A fourth reason making as careful a knowledge as possible of the Book of Concord necessary is the right of election and calling of their preachers, which in this country falls back to the individual congregations. In Germany this right was mostly entrusted to consistories and patrons, and we are far from wishing to reject this form of calling or to represent ours as the only apostolic one — especially when that form is exercised by God-fearing, orthodox persons without tyranny of conscience, and the congregations retain the free right to accept or reject the persons chosen, if they have good cause. Rather, we say only this much: since here the right of calling rests with the individual congregations, and the Lord has placed it into their hands, they have thereby also assumed a proportionately greater responsibility, according to the word of the Lord: to whom much is given, of him will much also be required.

Now, on pain of God's utmost displeasure, a congregation ought to entrust the office of the Word to no one except one of whom it is assured that he well knows the doctrine of the Lutheran Church and is devoted to it with heart and mouth. But how can it judge this if it does not itself know this doctrine precisely and is unable to distinguish it from the many deceptive counterfeits? Might it not perhaps burden itself with a man who, for the sake of his bread, gives the best assurances of his Lutheran disposition, and yet at bottom is an erring spirit, a fanatic, a heretic, who, once he has crept into the sheepfold, does nothing but steal, strangle, and destroy? Will not, then, the congregation's freedom to choose its own preachers become for it a poison, a wounding sword, if it lacks the correct standard for its choice?

Suppose a congregation stands in association with an orthodox synod which examines candidates for the preaching office and ordains only those found competent — it does indeed thereby have a great advantage and a human guarantee. But notwithstanding this, its own examination on the part of the congregation is not thereby made superfluous; rather, the purpose of the synod's examination will only truly be achieved when the congregation in question adds its own well-founded yes and amen to it. But if it is itself unacquainted with the standard by which Lutheran preachers or candidates are to be examined, it will either depend merely on the human authority of the synod, or, having once let itself be captivated by the dazzling appearance of an individual, it will afterward ask nothing about the synod's judgment, even should that judgment turn out unfavorable regarding the object of its choice. If, then, a congregation wishes to make godly and, for itself, wholesome use of its freedom to choose and call its own preachers, a predominant knowledge of church doctrine must necessarily be found within it.

Now, in order not to become too lengthy, we shall, fifthly, only briefly recall the great, blessed benefit which he enjoys who is precisely acquainted with the Book of Concord. How fortunate such a one will consider himself, to belong to the Lutheran and no other church; how heartily he will rejoice when God has granted him a preacher who stands faithfully and firmly by the confession of his church; how sweet the preaching of the Word will taste to him, of which he knows, from his own examination, that it is the pure imprint of the church's confession! What a lovely, blessed relationship of mutual trust will grow up from this between preacher and congregation! What joy it gives to an upright servant of Christ to carry out his office in a congregation that is permeated by the leaven of sound church doctrine and that fights together with him for its treasure, whatever it may cost!

We may hardly indulge the hope that such a wealth of knowledge will permeate all the members of our congregations; nor must we, on the other hand, draw the bow too tight and demand an equal degree of knowledge from all members — there will never be a lack of the weak, the ignorant, the indifferent. Nevertheless, it is beyond doubt: the more general the knowledge of the Book of Concord becomes, and the greater the number of well-instructed members in our congregations becomes, the more joyfully will their inner well-being grow, and the richer a blessing will overflow from the gifts of individuals onto all. Dishonest preachers will naturally shun the Book of Concord and will seek to hinder acquaintance with it among those entrusted to them. Upright servants of Christ will rejoice when this acquaintance becomes ever more general, and will promote it with all their strength.

(To be continued.)

On Private and General Confession.
(By Pastor Keyl.)

(Continued.)

That the Lutheran Church has at all times upheld private confession is further shown "by the manifold testimonies of Dr. Luther's writings." The citation of such testimonies — beyond those already communicated from the symbolic books (of which Dr. Luther expressly approved the earlier ones, while he himself composed the others, with the exception of the last) — is undertaken not in the notion that the public confessional writings would not in themselves already be sufficient, but rather because these writings themselves, and especially and frequently the Formula of Concord, appeal to Dr. Luther's doctrinal and polemical writings with the deepest reverence, and thereby give his writings precedence over those of all other Lutheran teachers — a precedence which he has retained in the Lutheran Church up to now and will continue to retain, since indeed all who teach what is right and salutary owe it to this unsurpassed teacher.

Dr. Luther treated the doctrine of private confession and absolution in several sermons of his Church Postil — for example, on the Gospels for the Sunday of Quasimodogeniti, the 19th Sunday after Trinity, and the day of Mary Magdalene — and, besides this, in a number of particular writings, namely in his little book on Confession (from the year 1521), and his sermon on the Holy Supper against the Fanatics