# Der Lutheraner_St. Louis Missouri_1848 01 11_S80
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

...find it! Whoever wants to receive the Spirit of God, in order to become a true child of God, let him come here! Whoever wants to renounce the world and journey with us to Canaan, let him come here! When then, under the repeated exhortation "The Lord is among us! Now is the time! Come, do come!" after long resistance some follow, kneel down, confess their sins, first groan for a while and then jump up and shout aloud for joy — when conversion thus comes about before the eyes of "the church," accompanied by the pleading of the "sanctified children of God" and by their thanksgiving to God: then no Methodist doubts its genuineness any longer.*) But that "the church" is in this way presented as mediator of communion with Christ is clearly not evangelical but Roman.

* This manner of conversion affords the Methodists at the same time the great advantage (for that is what it is, in their view) of being able to state precisely, in their church periodicals, the number of the penitent and converted. To their German church newspaper, called "the Christian Apologist," every German [illegible] sends a quarterly report, in which the events in the congregation in question are so heavily overlaid with a glittering array of the finest turns of phrase that the true state of affairs can seldom any longer be made out from it. "We had glorious times," "grace was poured out in streams," and similar expressions are standard in most of these reports. Whether the truth is always [told] is very much the question.

To be concluded.

The Last Will of Duke Ernst the Pious, Concerning the Funeral Sermon to Be Held for Him.

In the year 1745, on the 4th of September, there died blessedly in the Lord Christian Ernst, Duke of Saxony, who received the surname "the Pious" or "Praying Ernst" on account of his altogether exceptional, unfeigned piety. As he had shown himself in life, so he showed himself also in dying, namely as a humbly believing Christian who, despite his shining virtues, saw in himself nothing but sin and unworthiness, and sought and found all his salvation and comfort in Christ the Crucified. A beautiful testimony to this is given by the ordinance which this godly prince left behind concerning his funeral observance. It states, among other things:

"Now follows the memorial sermon on the funeral text I have chosen: Galatians 3:20 and Philippians 1:21, 23: 'Yet I live; nevertheless not I, but Christ liveth in me. For what I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. — For Christ is my life, and to die is gain. I have a desire to depart and to be with Christ.' The reading aloud of my life's course, likewise a funeral eulogy, I do not wish to have at all. I likewise lay it earnestly upon the heart and conscience of him who preaches the sermon, that he refrain from all vain boasting and from any suitable words of praise concerning me, and that he therefore make mention of nothing other than the sole glory of the divine mercy which rescued me from the bondage of sin and of Satan, which made me — by nature a child of hell — into His true child through the process of a true change of heart and through living faith in Jesus Christ my Savior, and which, out of undeserved mercy, gave me the unmistakable testimony of this through Word and Spirit; so that in my life I can convincingly and confidently glory in the death on the cross and the bloody wounds of my Savior, and consequently in the reconciliation established thereby before the judgment of God, and in such a frame of mind can await my final hour without fear; because I know that even if, thereupon, some arrows of temptation are shot off at me and perhaps cause me anxiety and dread, they nevertheless cannot harm me, since I have been washed and cleansed by the blood of Jesus from all, all my sins, through faith. This sole glorying concerning myself, which is the truth before God, is therefore to be mentioned (not exactly word for word as it is set down here, but according to its substance), both because otherwise I have nothing to boast of concerning myself but sin and shame, along with all sinners, even the most godless, and also because it redounds to the glory of my dear Savior when the power of his atoning blood, in the conversion and salvation of a sinner, far surpasses all the power of the devil, of the world, and of inborn corruption, and this is made manifest, before God as also before men. After the sermon, therefore, instead of the account of my life, the conclusion shall be made in the pulpit with a prayer of thanksgiving for the mercy of God shown to me in life and in death."

St. Raphael and the Pilgrim Christian.
(Old Song.)

Where does the journey go,
O you my dear wayfarer?
Where is your mind set?
That you travel forth so readily, —
Where is the city? What is the place called?
Who is the Lord therein?

Home to my fatherland,
To the heavenly Jerusalem,
To him who is my kinsman,
Who is my blood-friend and brother,
His name is called Jesus Christ,
To him I am well known.

But where do you come from?
My dear friend, from what land?
Tell me that without reluctance; —
And what drives you out of it?
Have you no house of your own there,
That you stay there no longer?

I come from this world,
Which is full of sin and vice
And holds to God no more.
Satan is the lord therein,
Therefore I am weary of it,
Its doings please me not.

Tell me also, what is your name?
So that I may know you better,
Before you journey away from here.
Perhaps I shall be your traveling companion,
Who journeys heavenward with you,
And shows you the way.

My name is Christian,
And this name I have
From the anointed man,
The Lord Jesus, who is
Anointed by God to be a Christ,
To whom I cling in faith.

Tell me one thing more;
Since you name yourself after this man:
Who gives you the name?
Have you recognized yourself as such,
And named yourself after him out of love?
Show me that as well, here and now.

At my baptism I
Renounced sin and the devil,
And soon thereafter,
Cleansed of sin through Christ's blood,
Was inscribed into the kingdom of heaven,
Whither I now hasten.

There too there came upon me,
Through such baptism and new birth,
The beautiful name of Christian;
I now also confess with heart and mouth,
That I am a Christian at every hour,
A branch out of Christ's stem.

Since you are now such a one,
My dear friend and traveling companion,
A Christian beloved of God,
Then show me also your traveling garment,
Your walking staff and provisions,
And what your guide is.

It is my traveling garment,
Which I need for my journey,
Prepared for me by Christ,
The garment of salvation, my christening gown,
The robe of which my heart is not ashamed,
Christ's righteousness.

Besides, for my journey
I need the angelic bread of heaven,
The imperishable food,
The Lord Jesus' body and blood,
Which gives me, weary, strength and courage,
In a sacramental way.

My walking staff is
That on which I lay myself down,
The cross, on which Jesus Christ,
My friend, wearied, died for me,
And earned for me blessed rest,
With which I am equipped.

My guide and compass
Is the brightly shining Word of God,
Which shows me the right road
(And deceives me in no way)
Truly to the promised land,
Which I follow as best I can.

You have prepared yourself well,
And you do quite rightly and well
That at this time
Out of Sodom, the evil world,
You have set out on your journey;
The world's end is not far.

Now I too, my faithful, dear travel-friend,
Will tell you about myself:
I am sent to you by God,
Called Raphael,
I guide you surely.

Follow me and fear not:
Today you shall yet come into the fatherland,
Before the face of God,
For God has heard your prayer,
And has granted you a place there,
Where God is sun and light.

How glad I am now,
That God is so faithfully disposed toward me,
And comforts me thus!
Now I enter at heaven's gate, —
O joy-filled dwelling place of life! —
My treasure is called Alpha and Omega!

Acknowledgment.

Through Mr. L. Pechmann the undersigned received, for the German Evangelical Lutheran congregation of the Unaltered Augsburg Confession in Palmyra, Mo.:

From Rev. P. Löber, his congregation, and the college students at Altenburg ... 45
From the congregation of Rev. Schifferdecker, Ill. ... 3.00

From St. Louis:

From Mr. Neumüller .....
[Mrs./Miss] Gfr. Schmidt.
[Kirchhof, P.]
Koch
H. Bünger
Brockschmidt..
[Lorenz].....
[Heinicke]..—.——.

From an unnamed [donor]......
..........
———

From Philadelphia:

From Mr. G. Pfeiffer, Sr. ... 2.50
[Mr.] G. Pfeiffer, Jr. ... 2.00
[Mr. ...] Pfeiffer. ... 0.25
Glieb Pfeiffer. . 0.50
Bernh. Schacht. ... 0.50
— 0.
[Mr.] J. Hubert..—.—.— 0.25

To all the kind donors our heartfelt thanks. — May the Savior, who says: "Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me," repay it richly in this world and in that world to come.

Palmyra, January 3, 1848.
In the name of the congregation:
J. P. Best, Pastor.
H. Baum, J. Deis, G. Stark, J. Schammel,
Church Council.

Received for the Mission Fund.
$53.10 from the congregation at Altenburg, 75 cents from Mr. Jacob Horn, and 75 cents from Mr. Rector Gönner.

Paid.
Second half of Volume 3: Mr. Hofstädter.
First half of Volume 4: Mr. Hofstädter.
Second half of Volume 4: Mr. Molan.
Volume 4: Messrs. P. Löber (6 copies), P. J. F. Isenset, J. Mayers, Dietr. Pardieck, P. Wege ... 6.50.

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