# Lehre und Wehre_St. Louis Missouri_Februar 1861_S64
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

64 Church and Contemporary Notes.

...in an otherwise excellent festival sermon, the rigidly orthodox — who had revived the old party names Pauline, Cephan, Apollonian — were, together with the Jesuits, "whose hands are said to be red with the blood of the saints," and with unbelief, "which has broken into the sheepfold like a thief," branded, in an enviable triple alliance, as the common "murderers" under whose blows our Church had fallen. For that nowadays, and at a Prussian Gustavus Adolphus assembly, one should think under "the rigidly orthodox" not merely of men who lived two hundred years ago, but rather that today's strictly confessional — in particular, the confessionally Lutheran — should be understood by it as well, will hardly seem doubtful to anyone.

Hanover, October 4. A meeting of Lutheran theologians from various territorial churches took place here today for the purpose of a desirable understanding on current ecclesiastical questions. It has been decided that this gathering, in the form not of a church congress but of a free conference, shall, upon invitations issued by those entrusted with the arrangements, be repeated annually at a fixed time. (N. Pr. Ztg.)

Gotha. Of the newest work by Dr. Tholuck of Halle, "The Prophets and Their Prophecies," the first edition is already, scarcely three weeks having passed since publication, sold out, so that a second printing is necessary, which the publishing house has already handed over to the press. A. Z.

Leipzig, September 27. The official local District and Ordinance Gazette contains, according to the "O. A. Z.," the following article, dated the 25th of this month, concerning the most recent occurrences in the local German Catholic congregation:

"For some time now the manner in which the new German Catholic clergyman, the Rev. Dr. Beyer, was accustomed to deliver his addresses in St. Peter's Church, which had been made available to his congregation here, had attracted attention among the local public. With every Sunday the indignation grew that open reviling of the articles of faith of the Christian Church was allowed to be hurled publicly from the pulpit of an Evangelical Protestant church. These proceedings were bound to draw the attention of the consistorial authority, which has the duty of watching over the proper use of Protestant houses of worship, and the appropriate steps were taken so as to obtain, in addition to the earlier, already printed addresses of the Rev. Dr. Beyer, a faithful record of the later ones as well. The shorthand transcripts of these latter ones confirmed all too well the rumors then circulating, and it was high time to put a stop to this publicly harmful conduct. We would share with our readers passages from the sermons most recently delivered, were we not obliged to fear that we would thereby give still wider circulation to statements that ought never, in a Christian state, to be heard uttered in such a manner. On the last Sunday, the language of the Rev. Dr. Beyer in his address on the doctrine of the Trinity seems to have reached its culmination, and the public prosecutor accordingly felt obliged, immediately after the address had ended, to have the manuscript of the speech delivered handed over to him, in order to consider the question of how far the speaker might be held accountable under the provisions of the penal code. The District Office, acting as consistorial authority, at the same time issued the following order to the local town council: 'The rumors circulating here regarding the manner of preaching of the present German Catholic preacher, Dr. Beyer, prompted the Royal District Office some weeks ago to obtain, not only from the pulpit addresses of the said preacher already made public through print, more exact knowledge, but also to procure reliable shorthand transcripts of some of those delivered later. Having on this basis already had to arrive at the conviction that the character of such addresses — devoid of all Christian and religious content, and also directly contrary to the articles of faith of the German Catholic congregation appended to the law of November 2, 1848 — delivered from a Christian pulpit, stands in irreconcilable conflict with the intended use of the latter, and can no longer be permitted without the greatest public offense, it accordingly follows, from a report submitted here today by the Royal Public Prosecutor's Office concerning yesterday's service of the local German Catholic congregation and the address delivered on that occasion by Dr. Beyer, that there is an inescapable necessity of putting an immediate end to this mischief, already tolerated far too long. An order is therefore hereby issued to the town council here that the local German Catholic congregation is no longer to be permitted, until further notice, the use of St. Peter's Church or of any other Evangelical Lutheran church of this city for the holding of its services, and that the necessary steps in this regard are to be taken with the board of the said congregation; moreover, in carrying out this order, it is not to be deterred by any recourse that might possibly be raised against it.'"

Errata in the Previous Number.
Page 7, under No. 14, read maledicta instead of maledictus.