# Der Lutheraner_St. Louis Missouri_1848 01 11_S73
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

Edited by C. F. W. Walther.

Der Lutheraner.

"God's Word and Luther's teaching shall now and never pass away."

Published by the German Evangelical Lutheran Synod of Missouri, Ohio, and Other States.

St. Louis, Mo., January 11, 1848.

No. 10.

Volume 4.

Terms: The Lutheraner appears once every two weeks, at the annual subscription price of one dollar for out-of-town subscribers, who must pay it in advance and bear the postage themselves. — In St. Louis, each single issue is sold for 5 cents.

Only letters containing communications for the paper are to be sent to the Editor; all others, however, containing business matters, orders, cancellations, moneys, etc., are to be sent here under the address: Mr. F. W. Barthel, care of C. F. W. Walther, St. Louis, Mo.

(Submitted by Pastor Schieferdecker.)

The Presentation of the Augsburg
Confession.

(Continuation and Conclusion.)
At last the 25th of June dawned, the great and important day on which the Confession was read and presented — a day that stands alone in the history of the Christian Church, because here the truth of God triumphed over the mightiest enemy who has ever risen up against the LORD's Anointed and his holy Gospel, against the Roman Antichrist and his dreadful following. God had brought together, from the whole of Christendom, near and far, its most eminent representatives, so that they might hear his Word from those whom they had previously despised and persecuted, and might recognize how wretchedly they had formerly been misled under the papacy and cheated of their salvation. It was at three o'clock in the afternoon that not only the princes and estates of the German Empire, but also the ambassadors of foreign nations, assembled in the hall of the episcopal palace; for the Emperor had not been willing to permit the reading in the hall of the town hall, which was far larger. Before this exalted and splendid assembly, the aforementioned Lutheran princes stepped forward with joyful countenance and bearing, and were not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ. They wished to deliver their confession standing, but the Emperor bade them be seated. Thereupon the two Electoral Saxon chancellors, Dr. Georg Brück and Dr. Christian Bayer, stepped forward, the former with the Latin, the latter with the German copy of the Confession. The Emperor wished to hear it read in the Latin language; but at the representation of the Elector of Saxony — that they stood on German soil and ground, and that His Majesty would therefore also permit the German tongue — the Confession was read by Dr. Bayer in the German language so loudly and distinctly that it could be heard outside in the courtyard, where a great crowd had gathered.

The reading lasted two hours, during which the greatest silence and attention prevailed. People heard with astonishment that the Lutheran doctrine was quite different from how their malicious opponents had represented it. For the Lutherans had been slandered by these men as though they had renounced the old Christian faith. Unmistakable was the deep impression that the Confession made upon many. The Emperor himself, after hearing it, was much milder and more friendly. When Dr. Brück wished to hand both copies to the imperial secretary Alex. Schweis, the Emperor had them handed to him instead by Dr. Brück himself, and kept the Latin copy for himself, while he gave the German one to the Elector of Mainz, as Chancellor of the Empire, to be deposited for safekeeping in the imperial archive at Mainz. At the same time he had the Protestant princes answered that he had graciously heard their confession of faith, and would give this important and great matter mature consideration, and would make known his decision concerning it. The Cardinal of Salzburg opined that the cause of the Protestants was not wrong, but that it could by no means be tolerated that one should let a wretched monk dictate to them. Duke William of Bavaria spoke kindly to the Elector John, and in his presence reproached Dr. Eck for having represented the Lutheran doctrine to him quite falsely. When Eck replied that he ventured to refute it with the Church Fathers, but not with Scripture, the Duke answered: "Then I hear indeed that the Lutherans sit within Scripture, and we sit beside it." Especially memorable are the words of the learned Bishop of Augsburg, Christoph von Stadion, who said openly: Everything that has been read is true, the plain truth; we cannot deny it. This Stadion was, in fact, a Gamaliel in the council of the Pharisees (Acts 5:3, 4ff.). Before the opening of the Diet, Luther had sent an exhortation to the clergy at Augsburg. The Bishop took this earnest and sharp writing with him into the Council of Princes, and read it aloud publicly. Even Duke Henry of Brunswick, who was otherwise very hostile, after hearing the confession of the Lutherans, kindly invited Melanchthon to his table, and testified that he could not deny the articles on communion in both kinds (in the Lord's Supper), on the marriage of priests, and on the distinction of foods.

Thus the truth proved its convincing power even upon the hearts of enemies, and what had previously been forbidden to be preached in Augsburg was now confessed loudly and freely at this Diet. "Is it not," writes Luther, "a fine piece of cleverness and a great jest, that Master Eisleben and others must remain silent, but that in their place the Elector of Saxony, together with other princes and lords, comes forward with the written confession, and preaches freely before His Imperial Majesty and the whole Empire, so that they must hear it and cannot speak against it? I do think that the ban on preaching has thereby been well avenged." And Spalatin testifies that it was "a confession the like of which has occurred not merely in a thousand years, but not since the world has stood. One finds nothing like it in any history, nor in any ancient teacher." Whoever thinks this praise excessive thereby only shows that his own spirit is far too small and too limited to appreciate the spirit of this confession. It is as profound and thorough as it is clear and simple in setting forth the divine truth; it is not a mere polemical tract, but also a didactic writing; it does not merely tear down, but also builds up. In the first twenty-one articles it sets forth the clear, sound doctrine of Scripture concerning the principal articles of the faith; in the last seven it contests the abuses and human ordinances that had crept into the Roman Church. Of incalculable importance was this confession, not only for the Church at that time, but also for the times that followed, down to the present day. In it, all who were faithful and earnest about the truth received a common confession, around which they gathered as around their banner, and by which