# Der Lutheraner_St. Louis Missouri_1848 01 11_S76
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

...land, Scotland, the once most flourishing kingdoms, laid waste in a short time; and finally has crossed the Alps and reached even Italy! It has dared to sail even to the Greeks and the Indians, indeed even to the New World!"

So even the adversaries could not deny the wonderful spread of the Gospel; and while from this alone God's providential care for the right doctrine of His Word shines forth clearly and gloriously, so too do many remarkable examples testify to how God resisted the enemies of the Confession and brought their designs to nothing, in that they were either turned into friends or suddenly removed from the way. Thus Spalatin relates in his Annals that a certain Count Felix von Werdenberg, a fierce enemy of Luther, had declared at Augsburg that if it came to war against the Lutherans, he would gladly offer himself for it free of charge. But God suddenly summoned him, in the midst of his evil designs, before His judgment seat. In the evening he banqueted with the abbot at Weingarten, lay down drunk, and early the next morning was found dead in his bed. A respected citizen of Augsburg, who happened to see the funeral procession pass by and heard that it was the Count of Werdenberg, is said to have been greatly startled and to have said: "Ah, God is indeed a strange judge. Why, only yesterday I heard from his own mouth, spoken in solemn words, that he would sooner not live than not stake his body and goods on rooting out the Lutheran doctrine." God also displayed His power against many high personages who had strongly opposed the Gospel. The Elector Joachim of Brandenburg and Duke George of Dresden, the most fervent adversaries of Luther, died long before this, and their successors introduced the Lutheran religion into their lands. The Duke of Brunswick, a declared enemy of the Lutherans, was taken captive, and after his release had little joy left in the world. The King of Portugal, who had issued a harsh edict against the Lutherans, died immediately after issuing it. The King of Hungary, in his young years, had to drown miserably; but his widow, Maria, the Emperor's sister, was favorably inclined toward the Gospel and used her influence with the Emperor to promote it. To her Luther dedicated, in the year 1526, soon after her husband's death, a little book entitled: Four Comforting Psalms, to the Queen of Hungary.

The Emperor Charles V himself — however much he was incited against the Lutherans by the papist whisperers by whom he was entirely surrounded, and however hostile his intentions were when he came to Augsburg — nevertheless became more mildly disposed after hearing the Confession, and was unwilling to employ violent measures; so much so that in Rome people were quite displeased with him and wrote disparagingly of him: "All the wrongs done to him he has valiantly avenged on every king; but to take up arms for the wrong done to God, he had an aversion. Through his negligence he has allowed heresy to grow strong, since at the very beginning, by the execution of Luther and several others, he could have preserved many millions of people." But this very evil testimony from Rome recommends this Emperor all the more in our eyes. In the year 1532 he proclaimed religious freedom, and it is even beyond doubt that he died in the true evangelical faith. For in 1556 he laid down the government and withdrew into a monastery in Spain. There he spent the rest of his life in stillness and solitude, and had his grave prepared and his funeral rites held while he was still living. He died, relying solely on the merit of the Crucified One, with the crucifix in his hand, on the 27th of September 1558. According to the report of his own son, the Emperor Ferdinand, he spoke before his end, from Augustine: "Woe even to the praiseworthy life of men, if Thou, O God, wouldst judge it without mercy." He relied on nothing, the report goes on to say — on no man's merit, but on the grace which he had received from the fullness of Christ. His Lutheran-minded confessor, Constantinus Pontius, who had attended him in death, was soon afterward persecuted by the Spanish Inquisition, died in prison, and after his death was burned in effigy. Ferdinand, Charles V's son, although he had previously been devoted to the Papacy with great zeal, and was incited from all sides to persecute the Lutherans, nevertheless came to hold much milder views after the Diet of Augsburg. It was owed to him especially, next to God, that the Peace of Religion at Augsburg came about in 1552. In the year 1533 he permitted, at Nuremberg, the printing of Luther's church hymns, and it was his own kapellmeister, Arnold von Bruck, who composed excellent melodies for several of them, such as for the hymns: Come, Holy Spirit, Lord God, etc., God the Father, dwell with us, etc., In the Midst of Life We Are, etc. On his deathbed the Emperor Ferdinand still let the Pope know that it would be his last comfort if the laity were permitted the cup. His court preacher relates the following about him in his funeral sermon: "His Majesty commanded me, on his sickbed, that in his last hour and death-struggle, when I should exhort and comfort him with God's holy Word, I should use no majestic, most gracious, or princely title in addressing him, but should call him only by his Christian baptismal name and say: Ferdinand, my brother, fight as a devout knight of Christ, be faithful to your Lord unto death. Which was then also obediently carried out."

Thus the divine truth that was confessed at Augsburg proved itself even in the hearts of its enemies; yet how much fruit it must have wrought in secret, which will only be made manifest on that Day. It is certain that God laid an overflowing blessing upon the Christian, steadfast confession of our fathers at Augsburg. Even now the divine truth contained therein speaks with such convincing power to all who have an open heart for the truth, that they must recognize in it the confession of the true Church. May, therefore, all Lutherans also acknowledge with thanks to God what a precious legacy they have inherited from the fathers in this Confession. Shame on the Lutheran who does not know it, nor takes the trouble to read it! He is not worthy of the name Lutheran. But blessed be all — and honor and praise on that Day to those who hold fast to this most precious confession with an upright heart, and who, after the example of those our fathers, remain steadfast in it through all tribulations! May Jesus Christ help us to this!

Attempts at Conversion.
(Löhe.)

Take care, Christian, with wanting to convert people. Convert one person — yourself, if you can; but you cannot even do that, much less other people. To convert is God's affair. God does not convert a person without Word and Sacrament; He uses people to dispense His Word and Sacrament; but for that very reason, dear Christian, take care that you rightly divide God's Word into Law and Gospel and give to each soul what it can use. If you cannot do that, then rather leave off converting through the Word, and pray to God for wise and upright laborers in His harvest. Praying, too, is laboring — only not on earth but in heaven, not upon human hearts but, if it be permitted to say so, upon the heart of God, which is gladly overcome by the hearts of praying children: for it is a father's heart.

I have read of a man who was endowed by God with beautiful, shining gifts, like a morning star. He is known throughout the world, loved and honored in the whole world, for the world loves its own. Perhaps you have heard the name of the greatest poet of Germany — that is, of Germany's modern age — his name is Goethe. Many have ventured to approach him and wanted to win him for the Kingdom of God, but they could not. It went with them as with the potter who sets his vessel in the kiln: the longer it stays in there, the harder it becomes. Indeed, the poor, great man gave his well-meaning friends a lesson that may make us cautious too: "All attempts at conversion, when they do not succeed, make the one chosen as the proselyte rigid and hardened." — Take care, especially with those who imagine themselves rich and in need of nothing! But pray for all people!