# Der Lutheraner_St. Louis Missouri_1847 12 08_S69
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

...like that of a European chaplain; and the field of labor is not always a garden of God, but rather a wilderness or a stony, uncultivated field. Here especially applies the word of the Lord, Matt. 10:16; compare also ch. 7:6. Let the preacher accustom himself to quick, calm circumspection; for want of time and because of circumstances there is often not much room for weighing back and forth, and yet the cases are at times so strange or complicated. Whoever has not experienced them — how could he picture them to himself? Jesus, your archshepherd, holds his high-priestly hands over you in blessing.

5. Never let yourself be cast down or lose courage on account of the coarseness you will meet with in your office. However deeply the German people may sink, they still have a core which you, through faithful perseverance, will surely and certainly find, to the great joy of your soul and the glorious reward of your labor full of struggle. Many a one looks bad, indeed thoroughly wicked, for a time, and has long since bitten fast on the hook of the divine Word, against which he now only struggles powerlessly, until at last he surrenders. In general, never judge by appearances, but gather for yourself a knowledge of the human heart, without wishing to be a searcher of hearts, so that you may know how to strip the covering from the truth.

Note. The temper found even within congregations often depends merely on outward circumstances and on appearances, which most people go by, but which the hand of the Most High can, according to His counsel and will, also change again (Ps. 77:11 [10]). What a man seems to be, every one may judge; what he is, no one can. (1 Cor. 2:15.) What one therefore does not give up, one has never lost. Let the preacher strive after a treasury of steady experience and wisdom for life, so that he will become steadfast and even-tempered in a Christian way in his course, so that not easily anything can lead him astray. Man's deeds and thoughts should not be like the blindly moved waves of the sea; the inner world of the spirit is the deep shaft out of which truth also, once taken possession of, eternally wells up. Its rays, indeed, which escape meaningfully and shining from this mysterious birthplace, are grasped only with difficulty; their wealth is closed off to most who are caught up in the business of this life; wherefore also Luther was subject to so many countless misunderstandings — his expression stood far above the ordinary circle of thought. Let one learn from him and from his great teacher Paul the true accommodation — compare 1 Cor. 9:19ff. — yet without basely sacrificing German folk character, custom, and the German dialect to Anglo-Americanism, or banishing the whole of Lutheranism into the language of past centuries. Even if such remarks lure no dog from the stove — for which, indeed, rather a stick is needed — I only wish to say this much by them: that although knowing and believing lay hold of blessedness, of God Himself, we nevertheless do not move a single hill from its place, because our faith is so small.

6. Do not splinter, through conceit in methods, the strength which your calling claims from you. Pray and watch, study and preach untiringly, scatter the seed in simplicity, as God has ordained it, among the great and among the small, and wait — with the farmer's patience, with which above all you must arm your soul (Luke 21:19) — for the time of harvest (2 Tim. 2:6). A fitting word spoken in divine certainty accomplishes far more than importunate or frivolous blustering and chatter. Some seed comes up late, but then bears all the nobler fruit. Many a one imagines he has worked wonders, and, seen in the light, it is merely rotten wood! Many a clever fellow interprets quite differently what is discipline of the spirit, deep feeling of one's own weakness, the fear and blessedness of a tender conscience before God.

7. On no account imitate the American sectarian preachers, but remain, with untiring care, faithful to the excellent customs of your believing fathers, already proven by the testimony of the ancients. But do not turn your mother church itself into a sect through respect of persons, and do not thoughtlessly poke a wasps' nest; you might otherwise have bitter cause to regret it.

8. Be mild and yielding in all indifferent matters toward the members of your congregation, so that in divine matters, which concern the soul's salvation and blessedness, you may be all the more unyielding and strict. Do not confuse worldly-fashioned visiting with the care of souls, and in everything you do concerning the souls entrusted to you, seek sure ground in God's Word.

9. Never show anxiety for your own belly; avoid every appearance of seeking temporal advantage through friendly conduct; but also punish confidently, for God's sake and the souls' sake, when ingratitude toward the Gospel reaches its open measure. Behold the goodness and the severity of God (Rom. 11:22), the meekness and the zeal of the Lord Jesus.

10. Deal brotherly, and with gracious self-denial, with your hearers, without, however, placing yourself on the same level as they, if they are not yet grounded in true godliness — most cautiously of all with those who are assailed, or at least scrupulous, Christians. Put away all priestly pride, but also guard against contempt for the estates instituted by God through His Word. Let no one despise you (Titus 2:15); tolerate no disobedience of the young toward parents (Eph. 6:1; 1 Pet. 5:5).

11. Rather suffer hardship than debase yourself into a servant of men (Gal. 1:10); do not yield for a single hour, by which Christ and His holy Gospel could be denied (Gal. 2:5); count it your highest ornament to be found faithful to Him, and count it a small thing, in magnanimity, to be judged by a merely human day, by unspiritual or childish persons (1 Cor. 4:2-3); let the world have its portion, and offer your life as a sacrifice to the Lamb of God, but keep a heart full of love and faithfulness, full of humility and reconciliation even toward those who do you harm, free of all power of grudge and bitterness. Do not let your heart be embittered even by sad experiences. (Matt. 6:12; Luke 23:34.)

12. Where you hold to me, says God, so will I hold to you, and you shall remain my preacher; and where you teach the godly to separate themselves from the wicked, you shall be my teacher; and before you should fall to them, they must sooner fall to you (Jer. 15:19). But do not forget, either, that the Most Holy hung between two thieves on the cross, and took one of them with Him into paradise. Let the wickedness outside you be the mirror of your own godless heart (Gen. 8:21), and kindle yourself with the flame of a holy desire to wrest from Satan his unfortunate prey. — God has made you a firm, brazen wall against the fallen generation; though they fight against you, they shall not be able to harm you; for I am with you to help you and to deliver you, says the Lord (v. 20). There is a high nobility in the order of the cross.

Note. Were we believers not such timid people, so inclined to idolatry, we would stand unconquerable in the unity of the Spirit. When we heartily despise the whole human race within ourselves, and hold it high, in the love of God, as a precious, costly treasure, we are people before whom the devil flees.

13. Let the thorny path of shame and contempt, even though it pierce the flesh, be to you a sure pledge of the glory to come, if only you fight a good fight and hold to the faith (2 Tim. 4:7). As unknown, and yet well known; as chastened, and yet not killed; as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; we have tribulation, but we are not distressed (2 Cor. 6:9-10; 4:8). Remember that your Savior was the object of the wantonness and mockery of a whole people, of high and low (Ps. 22:7; 69:13, 21; compare also 1 Cor. 4:9ff.) — but now waits, exalted, until all His enemies lie as a footstool for His feet. Be assured that, even if no one here on earth suspects what painful things you feel, the sighing and timid prayer of repentance of your trampled heart has come up into remembrance before God (Acts 10:31); that you have peace and honor in Him (John 16:33); that the Judge of all the world will remember you at the right time, to the praise of His unspeakable grace. For he who commits his cause to the Lord, is silent, suffers, is gentle, proceeds calmly, holds fast to faith and keeps a clean conscience — of him God Himself will be the protector and avenger. Amen, in Jesus' name, Amen.