# Lehre und Wehre_St. Louis Missouri_Juni 1861_S176
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

176 Dr. Reynolds and the Lutheran Observer, on etc.

reflect on his lonely and perilous situation, and amid the torments of a
guilt-laden conscience he sought comfort in an old Bible that they had
brought from the ship, and through it he was led to the Savior. Once
he himself had obtained forgiveness, love for the savages who
inhabited the island moved him to instruct them from the Bible, and
in a short time he became, in the proper sense, their pastor. After a
twenty-year stay among these people, he had succeeded in founding a
Christian congregation, which loved him and rendered him unconditional
obedience. Since he now stood at an advanced age, he was
deeply troubled about the flock from which, as he could not but expect,
he would soon be separated by death. But to his unspeakable joy, an
American ship came to the island. He made the captain and the sailors
acquainted with his remarkable story, and a pious man remained with
him to take over the office he had administered for so long. This man
was later ordained in England and is said still to be active on the lonely
island. Here we have an example where the Bible was the sole means
of conversion for an ungodly man, who then became a preacher of the
Gospel. — Concerning the other weighty testimonies from Luther that
Dr. Reynolds adduces, the Observer remarks: "We yield to no man in
our veneration and high esteem for Luther, yet no one will deny, with
all due deference to such an authority, that in his vehement opposition
to Rome he often expressed himself, on various matters, more strongly
than he would otherwise have done, and this applies particularly to
his writings on the priestly office." The Observer thus retains, despite
Luther's testimony from God's word, the Roman error in the doctrine
of the ministry. As to the passages adduced by Dr. Reynolds