# Lehre und Wehre_St. Louis Missouri_Juli 1862_S196
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

196 Report on the Right Mean of the Lutheran Liturgy.

chasuble, albs, altar; we elevate [the sacrament] as long as we please. Therefore my
fanatic spirit shall not fight against us Wittenbergers in this way: They elevate
the sacrament, therefore they sin against God; but rather thus:
They teach and command that one must elevate the sacrament on pain of
mortal sin, therefore they sin against God; for that is what the papists
do and teach. But we do not teach so, and do this freely, as long
as we please. The doing does no harm; but the teaching is the devil's.
Again, in the monastery we leave it undone; but we do not teach it, as Dr. Karlstadt does; the leaving undone does no harm, but the teaching of it is the devil's.
From this, mark well, who are the Antichrist's cousins,
we or Dr. Karlstadt. We do as the papists do, except that we do not tolerate the teaching,
command, and compulsion; we also leave off, as the Karlstadtians do,
but we do not tolerate the prohibition. So the pope and
Dr. Karlstadt are indeed true cousins in their teaching; for they both teach,
one the doing, the other the leaving undone. But we teach neither, and do both." (Erl. A. 29, 189 ff.)

The same [Luther]: "But I marvel at these Jewish saints, who cling so stiffly to
the Law of Moses and rage against images, [yet see] how they behave toward the gold and
jewels where images stand upon them. For I hear they have much gold
and jewelry; thus in Joachimsthal they mint St. Joachim onto the groschen.
It would be my counsel that one help these great saints out of their sins
and take from them the gold and silver groschen and cups. For although they
are indeed hostile to images, it is still to be feared that they are not yet
so far refined, nor have come so far into study and wonder and sprinkling [with holy water],
that they could of themselves cast such things away; it may also be
that mankind is still so weak that even the living voice from
heaven is not enough, but [needs] good strong fellows who otherwise would not have much to
live on.

There is also still another fault with these image-breakers, that they themselves fall to it without
order and do not proceed with orderly authority: for their
prophets stand, cry out, and incite the mob, saying: ha, hew,
tear, bite, smite, break, stab, thrust, kick, throw, strike the idols in the mouth,
if you see a crucifix, spit in its face, etc. This is called, in the Karlstadtian manner,
doing away with images — indeed, making the mob mad and foolish and secretly accustoming it to
uproar, so that they plunge headlong into the deed, thinking themselves
now great saints, becoming so proud and insolent that it is beyond measure;
and when one looks at it in the light, it is a work of the law, done without spirit and
faith, and yet it produces a pride in the heart, as though they were
something special before God through such a work. That is properly called
teaching works and free will all over again." (Erl. A. 29, 146 ff.)

Note. Historical evidence, besides the iconoclasm of the
Reformation period, is furnished by the disputes of the Puritans with the Episcopalians regarding
liturgical matters; by the worship assemblies of the Methodists,

the Quakers, and the like. Characteristic, too, is the aversion of Pietism
to the liturgy, etc.