# Lehre und Wehre_St. Louis Missouri_November 1860_S349
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

Church and Contemporary History. 349

Weapons of the Papal Church. We have recently received a copy of the first volume of the "Catholic Volkszeitung," which appears in Baltimore. In it is found the continuation of a novel bearing the title: "Luther's Bridal Journey." This novel, which contains a piece of fiction miserable beneath all criticism, is called in its heading "A Historical Painting." So the papal clergy lie to and deceive their people. Thank God that they can only take the field against Luther with such weapons as these!

Buffalo Theology. In order to prove that preachers do not hold their office "secondhand, at second remove," from God through the congregation, the Reverend Deacon Hochstetter, in his "Historical Gazette" for the month of November, poses the question: "Which came first, the egg or the hen?"

Fruits of the New Platform. In the Missionary of October 18 we read of the Hartwick Synod: "It was expressly stated, during the discussion of this subject in the Synod, that the lack of religious interest in many congregations, as brought out by the Synod's parochial reports, might, at least to some degree, be attributed to the fact that the Synod had changed its doctrinal position and placed itself upon a new platform. It is certain that a change has taken place in this Synod with respect to the progress of religion. The churches have not, of late, been so richly blessed with outpourings of the Spirit of God as in former years. And may not the fault for this lie in a change of their position? At the last session a resolution was proposed to abolish the new platform, the consideration of which was, after a discussion, postponed to the next annual meeting."

Progress among the Methodists. As we learn from the Reformed Kirchenzeitung, the following passage appears in the organ of the German Methodists, the "Christlicher Apologete," which has for some time now no longer exchanged copies with us: "It is often the case, too, that in blessed gatherings, during the sermon, the prayer, the confessions, the Lord's Supper, and the like, some cry out aloud: Hallelujah! Gloria! Thanks be to God! and so forth, or clap their hands and shout for joy, or stand up, walk about, and, amid weeping and laughter, join hands with one another. What are we to say of such occurrences? Some believe and say that these movements are of the Holy Spirit, and that one ought indeed not to quench the Spirit — that is, that one ought not to suppress one's feelings, but give them free rein. The warming of the heart is certainly of the Lord, but the movement of the body is, in this case, of the man himself. And to master one's feelings means quenching not the Spirit but the flesh . . . In the same category belongs the sighing, groaning, and muttering while another is praying. Some have taken up such a habit, either to increase their devotion or to appear devout; when in fact their sighs would come before God just as well, and just as quickly, in silence, and would disturb no one." — That is plainly a good piece of progress. Years ago the Methodists judged quite differently, and for that very reason declared the Lutheran services to be dead formalism, because in them "the feelings are mastered and the flesh is quenched."

The Basis of the General Synod. The Olive Branch declares, in its October number, that through an article by Dr. S. S. Schmucker in the Lutheran Observer of September 21, it has been placed beyond doubt what one is properly to hold as the doctrinal basis of the General Synod. According to that article, the statutes of the General Synod's Seminary namely read: "And that in this Seminary, in both the German and the English languages, the fundamental doctrines of the Holy Scripture shall be taught, as they are contained in the Augsburg Confession." On this the Olive Branch remarks: "Now mark these expressions carefully —: 'the fundamental doctrines,' not of the Augsburg Confession, but 'of the Holy Scripture,' as they are contained in the Augsburg Confession — not patched together by anyone according to his own pleasure. If this does not bind to the Augsburg Confession, and that unalterably, we should like to know what does?" After a further citation from the statutes of similar content, the writer in the Olive Branch continues: "This, it seems to us, ought to settle this much-discussed question forever