# Der Lutheraner_St. Louis Missouri_1848 02 08_S94
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

great burning zeal and unusual fearlessness rebukes sin and error.

From this it will now, we hope, be clear to our readers that from such and similar passages as, "Christ is the vine," etc., one cannot prove that the word "is" in Holy Scripture ever means as much as "signifies." The main reason, to repeat it briefly, is this: that in those passages the reference is not to an actual vine or rock, nor to an actual door, nor to the actual Elias, but that all these words are used in a new, altered (tropical), figurative, non-literal sense. As surely, then, as it is true that Christ is indeed not what the words vine, rock, and door denote in their proper sense, so surely is it also true that Christ is not merely signified by, but actually is, what these words mean in their tropical sense; that is, Christ actually is the divine vine, the door of heaven, and the spiritual Rock, and John actually is a second Elias (that is, as Luke 1:17 explains, a man "in the spirit and power of Elias").

The little word "is," then, always stands firm in Holy Scripture; wherever Holy Scripture says that a thing is this or that, we can rely on it firmly and without doubt. What, indeed, would Holy Scripture be if one could not rely on this little word? Then no truth revealed in it, not a single one, would stand firm; then it would stand written in vain in the Bible: There is a God, there is a judgment, there is a hell, there is a heaven, Christ is the Son of God, and so on; for if "is" could be taken for "signifies," who could then prevent an unbelieving expositor of Scripture from turning God, judgment, hell, heaven, the Son of God, etc., into nothing but empty meanings?

So, then, the little word "is" stands firm also in the words: "This is my body; this is my blood." The only question that can arise concerning these words is therefore: might the words "body and blood" perhaps contain a trope, that is, are they to be understood non-literally? — More on this in the next issue.

Enlightenment in the Wilderness.

In the town of Hermann, Missouri, a paper has for some time been appearing under the title "Lichtfreund" [Friend of Light]. This paper has already contributed a great deal toward making things ever brighter in our local wilderness. Only a few months ago it set forth, with the utmost acuity, why an enlightened person can no longer believe in the ascension of Christ — for the simple reason, namely, that according to the more recent discoveries in the field of physics, or natural science, the body is heavier than air! — Who does not marvel at the rapid progress which the far West has thus made in enlightenment??

Who, in former times, would have thought that the doctrine of Christ's ascension could be refuted so easily, although, as of course everyone now sees, the counter-proof lies so close at hand?

In the latest issue of the paper mentioned there is already another sample of how we here in the back country may perhaps soon have outstripped even the East, and how it is no longer at all improbable that in the future the sun will rise here in the West earlier than in the East. We consider it — we owe it to the world — to make use of our own modest paper as well, for the further dissemination of these sparks of light that are rising here at present in the middle of the night. In No. 21 of the "Lichtfreund" it says, namely, thus:

"It is probably already known to this or that reader of our paper that, alongside those writings handed down to us in the present collection of Christian writings as Gospels or biographies, there existed early on still other, widely circulated ones, which, however, were designated as spurious and supposititious, and were excluded from the collection of Christian writings as we now know it."

After Herr Lichtfreund has then communicated to his readers, whom he wishes to enlighten, the well-known fables concerning the birth of Mary and the childhood of Christ, he adds:

"The orthodox should not smile proudly over the explanations just communicated, for they are no more and no less credible" (although they were already originally designated as spurious and supposititious?!) "than all the similar miracle-stories in the New Testament, which the overwhelming majority of Christians nevertheless firmly and steadfastly believe. Had these mentioned Gospels, with their fables, been included in the Christian collection of writings, it could not have failed that they too would be regarded as God's Word, to doubt which could bring upon oneself nothing but hell and damnation."

In times when people were not yet so enlightened as they now are west of the Mississippi, one might perhaps have found in such arguments a petitio principii (as if someone were to say: Were this lie true, then there would perhaps be people who themselves believed this lie!); otherwise, upon reading such things, one might perhaps have exclaimed: O sancta simplicitas! We hope, however, from the "enlightened" portion of our readers that they will not fail to marvel at these proofs — that, since the extension of the magnetic telegraph to beyond the Mississippi, there are also here no small number of "clairvoyants."

(Submitted.)
A Call for a Mission Company to Oregon.

When we survey the heathen Indian world of the West, it seems to us, for the following reasons, most advisable that our mission should turn first to Oregon.

Oregon, from the 42nd to the 49th degree, is part of the territory of the United States of North America. A provisional government already exists there, and there are well-founded prospects that an orderly territorial government will shortly be established there. Post roads to it are already being laid out, and it is likely that provision will also be made in other ways for connection with Oregon. Accordingly, a mission colony in Oregon would enjoy, on the one hand, a regular connection with the Atlantic states, and on the other, legal protection against possible predatory attacks — neither of which would obtain to the same degree in the Missouri Territory. How important it is, moreover, for the mission colony to be able to maintain intimate fellowship with the rest of the Evangelical Lutheran Church needs no proof.

Besides this, the situation of Oregon is worthy of note. Situated on the Pacific Ocean, well supplied with harbors and rivers, it seems, according to human prospects, destined to become in time the seat of a considerable trade. This is doubtless the reason why an already not inconsiderable emigration flows there every year. It will probably not be long before Germans too, in ever greater numbers, follow the Americans and settle there.

Let us look more closely at this. We by no means wish to indulge in vain speculations about the future; we know the future belongs to the Lord. But it is just as certain that we are not to live and labor merely for the present, but that the Christian church must also, with motherly care, be mindful of future generations. And so we express the hope that an Evangelical Lutheran mission colony established in Oregon may, in the hand of the Lord, prove to be the means not only of bringing salvation to the heathen Indians, but also of providing ecclesiastical care for the Germans settling there. The Lutheran Church might also, from there, be in a position to work in wider circles for the spread of the kingdom of God.

The number of Indians is estimated at 20,000 to 30,000.* Among them the Roman [Catholics]

*) We have hitherto found the figures given for the population of Oregon, both as regards the natives and as regards the immigrants, to vary so much that we are at present scarcely able to decide which is even approximately the correct figure. In one of the recent issues of the "Anzeiger des Westens" we read the following: "The Methodist missionary Geo. Gary has recently returned from the Oregon territory. The entire population of the country — American emigrants, French Canadians, people of the Hudson's Bay Company, and native Indians — is said to number no more than 78,000 souls (?). In Oregon City itself about 500 people live; the town of Astoria has only six dwelling houses and four white families; Vancouver Island has about twenty white inhabitants; most, however, live in the Willamette Valley, which is regarded as the garden of the country. Since each immigrant claims 640 acres of land for himself, and at most only a third of them are married, it follows naturally that the population is thin and widely scattered. Feuds with the Indians are still frequent. — The Editor.