# Der Lutheraner_St. Louis Missouri_1847 11 24_S64
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

has God still blessed them here and there; but now that the truth has been set before them and they willfully harden themselves against it, God must fight against them, and in the end all blessing will vanish, and the Methodist community will stand as a barren, withered tree.

Church News from the West.

Let this serve as notice to our dear brethren in the East, that the church here in the West has just received two vigorous workers from the theological seminary at Fort Wayne, Indiana. The first, Herr Johann Paul Kalb of Markt Erlbach in Middle Franconia, has accepted the call of the Evangelical Lutheran congregations on Moreau Creek and on the Osage near Jefferson City, Mo.; the other, Herr Carl J. A. Strasen of Jürgenshagen near Rostock in Mecklenburg-Schwerin, has accepted the call of the Evangelical Lutheran congregation on Horse Prairie, Randolph County, Ill. Both have applied to the German Evangelical Lutheran Synod of Missouri, Ohio, and Other States for ordination, and — after well sustaining a public examination — received it in the Lutheran Trinity Church at St. Louis, from the pastors Bünger and Walther, on the third Sunday of Advent, before the assembled congregation, and intend to take up their office in God's name on the following Sunday. May God grant these His servants that they come to their congregations with the full blessing of the Gospel of Christ, and that a great door may be opened to them there, working much fruit. Rom. 15:29; 1 Cor. 16:9.

The addresses of both are: Rev. J. P. Kalb, Jefferson City, Mo. — Rev. C. J. A. Strasen, Red Bud P.O., Randolph Co., Ill.

(Submitted.)
Hallelujah!

O King of glory, the heavens are Thine own.
The earth serves Thee; Thou reignest alone.
The mountains praise Thee in sunny splendor,
The storms exult to Thee in the roaring sea,
Above, in the heavenly wreath, there shout for joy to Thee
The sun, the stars, and all their host.

The little bird in the branches sings of Thee,
The little flower gleams for Thee in fragrant beauty.
The lightnings flash, the thunders resound
The glory of the Eternal from near and from far,
Even the infant, still dreaming, praises Him with babbling: —
Yes! Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.

And you, my soul, oh, do you hear the sound?
Creation's song praises the Creator: —
Oh, praise the Redeemer with an everlasting song:
The world is reconciled, the sacrifice has been brought,
Now grace and peace shine down from heaven;
For God has appeared in blessed splendor.

Redeemed! — oh, only accept the redemption!
You are indeed redeemed from the eternal ban.
So rejoice, you heavens, exult, O earth,
Sing praise, O creation, redeemed you now are:
The Lord spoke a second, a more beautiful "Let there be";
He has made us kings and priests.
H. Fick.

Whether it is necessary that a person know the time and hour of his conversion?

On this Spener writes:

"Of those who have for a time stood in openly wicked and vicious living, I gladly grant that it is not well possible that they should not actually be able to know the time of their repentance and conversion, since the change is too recognizable. I also do not wish to deny that likewise, in the case of others who, while still leading a moral life, have nevertheless walked according to the world and outside of grace, it may happen that they are touched by a sudden occasion, and God at once carries on His work in them, so that once again the strong change is perceptible enough to them. But I also hold it to be possible that, in the case of such people as have previously lived for a long time according to the common way, and have imagined themselves to be good Christians (though they afterward find that this condition was not upright), the gracious Father gradually begins and carries forward His work, so that the literal essence first comes alive, and then the new nature gradually increases: until at last the person becomes aware in himself that he is quite another than he had been, and thus finds the difference quite noticeable, and also praises divine grace for it, yet could not say at what time, so to speak, the breakthrough into life occurred. Against this nothing can be brought from God's Word; therefore I would not venture to raise a scruple in weak but sincere hearts about the sincerity of their repentance, even though they should be unable to determine (state precisely) the time. As for personal experience, to which Christian hearts on the other side may also appeal, I consider such a conclusion too weak, since one may indeed have experienced the way by which God has led him, but it does not follow from this that he has therefore led all others in the same way, or must necessarily lead them so. Rather, God retains, in this and in all other such matters, His free hand to deal with each one as accords with His wisdom and goodness."

From this the Methodists may see that Spener, whom they often boast of as an authority, by no means approved their fanaticism, according to which they demand of everyone that he be able to state the time and hour of his having been converted — failing which they deny that he has really been converted — and thus bind God's grace to their method, torment and ensnare consciences worse than the Pope, and reject the work of God.

From a private German correspondence.
The Prussian situation still stands as it did after the outcome of the synod; the ordination formulary has not been introduced, nor can it be introduced, unless a large-scale secession is to follow. But what will the church government do, now that Eichhorn has publicly declared in the synod that things cannot remain as they were? No one knows what the Prussian Union Lutherans will do. — On the second day of Pentecost, Kniewel in Danzig declared from the pulpit his withdrawal from the Union church into the separated Lutheran church — a step which, coming from Kniewel, hitherto so great a champion of the Union, has caused great astonishment; he himself justifies it by the disunity of the church, though it has as yet had no further consequences. In Prussia things look as wretched and miserable as they possibly could. The sin of the Union bears its poisonous fruits. I think it cannot be helped otherwise than by a great act of repentance resulting in the abolition of the Union — at least in the sense that, even if the unity of the church government remains, the members of both confessions be restored their own confessions and the obligation to them. This will, admittedly, at first bring about a tremendous upheaval, but after that a healthy progress will indeed be possible.

Of the German Catholics and their like there is little to say; they do indeed grow in number, though only moderately, but all the more do they sink into the arms of the inner death that was in them from the beginning. The "Friends of Light" have been brought to rest, namely by the most sensible edict that has appeared in Prussia in a long time, the Edict of Toleration. If, accordingly, they are not pleased with the mother church, they may withdraw and have freedom of religion, retaining also their civil rights. This is, of course, not at all to their liking, for they want to remain in the old church and cause a disturbance there. That is why they are now quiet. The shameless Uhlich, whose unscrupulousness has now come clearly to light, recently turned in his impudence to the King, with the request to protect him in his faith. The King answered in a fine letter that, through his Edict of Toleration, he had now opened for all whose conscience was troubled a way to escape this dilemma, and strongly suggested to him that, if he wished to be a conscientious man, he would have to withdraw. Nevertheless, to this day he still sits in his fine, lucrative parish in Magdeburg, but has now been struck on the mouth. See, dear W., joy and sorrow, good and evil, all mixed together. We are still tossing and fermenting continually. May the Lord make His good Word bright, like the light on the lampstand, and give to all who know His glorious name a truly fresh, vigorous, and decided confession, which does not couple light together with darkness. Then we will all help toward the spreading of His great and wonderful glory.

"The Father is greater than I." (John 14:28.)

These words of our Lord Jesus Christ were once used, among others, also by the Arians, to claim that Christ was not the true Son of God. To these heretics the church father Augustine answers thus: "On account of the human nature he assumed, Christ says: The Father is greater than I; but on account of his divine nature: I and the Father are one. (John 10:30.) What then, O heretic? Since Christ is God and man, he speaks as man, and do you speak disgracefully of the God? He commends in himself his human nature, and do you therefore dare to insult in him the divine? You unbeliever, you ingrate, do you belittle Him who made you, because He says that to which His love for you moved Him? For the Son, through whom man was made, is equal to the Father; and in order that he might be less than the Father, he himself became man; and if this had not happened, what would man be?" (Tract. 78 on John.)

Received.
$52.10 from the congregation of Altenburg for the Mission Fund.
$33.00 from Candidate Bilz for the Mission Fund.

Paid.
Vol. 3. Messrs. H. Eggemeier, Dietr. Höhne, Bernh. Knollenberg.

Vol. 4. Messrs. Bohn, Brenner, John Beery, P. Brauer, Chr. Buscheck, H. Eggemeier, Wilh. Flikmer, Dietr. Höhne, Bernh. Knollenberg, Joh. Leininger, P. Löber (2 copies), Conr. Michel, Fr. Ochs, P. Richmann, Friedr. Schum, Karl Schmidt, Thürnau, Mrs. Wagenhals, Mart. Zimmer.

Printed by Arthur Olshausen, publisher of the Anzeiger des Westens.