# Lehre und Wehre_St. Louis Missouri_Juli 1862_S204
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

204 Report on the Right Mean of the Lutheran Liturgy.

the principles set forth under I, §§ 1 and 8. See also, in this connection, the
citations found under sub b of the latter paragraph.

Augsburg Confession, Art. 24: "Our people are wrongly charged with having
abolished the Mass. For it is a matter of public record that the Mass,
without boasting, is celebrated among us with greater devotion and earnestness
than among our adversaries. The people, too, are instructed with the utmost diligence, at every
Easter observance, in the Holy Sacrament, as to why it was instituted and how it is to be
used, namely, to comfort terrified consciences with it,
so that the people are thereby drawn to Communion and the Mass."

Luther, Sermon on the New Testament, that is, on the Holy Mass,
1520: "In these sayings (namely Luke 22:19, 1 Corinthians 11:26, Psalm 102:
22-23, Psalm 111:4-5) you see how the Mass was instituted, in order to preach
Christ and praise him, to extol his suffering and all his grace and benefit,
so that we might be moved to love, hope, and believe in him, and thus, upon these
very words or preaching, also receive a bodily sign, that is, the sacrament,
so that thereby our faith might be provided for, strengthened, and made
strong by divine words and signs against all sin, suffering, death, and hell,
and everything that is against us. And had preaching not been meant to accompany it,
he would never have instituted the Mass at all. He is more concerned with the Word than with
the signs. For preaching should be nothing other than a clarification
of Christ's words, where he says, in instituting the Mass: This is my body,
this is my blood, etc. What is the whole Gospel but a
clarification (explanation) of this testament? Christ has comprehended the whole Gospel
in a brief summary, in the words of this testament or
sacrament. For the Gospel is nothing other than a
proclamation of divine grace and the forgiveness of all sin, given to us through Christ's
suffering, as St. Paul proves, Romans 10 (9, 11, 12), and Christ,
Luke 24 (46, 47). The words of this testament likewise contain this in themselves,
as we have seen." Erl. A. 27, 167-168.

§ 4.
The Chief Service in Its Component Parts.

Since the Holy Supper, as the seal of the Word, is the goal and capstone
of the chief service, according to § 8 b, it accordingly has a multitude of liturgical
forms, which, in a complete liturgy, are the following:
Introit, Kyrie, Gloria with the et in terra, Salutation and Collect,
Epistle, Hymn, Gospel, Creed, Sermon, Confession and Absolution, Church
Prayer, Intercessions and the Lord's Prayer, Psalmody, Preface with the Sanctus,
the Lord's Prayer (here and there preceded by Luther's short
exhortation before the Supper), Consecration, Agnus Dei, the Peace, Distribution,
and, during the same, Communion hymns, the Nunc Dimittis or "In Peace
and Joy," the Thanksgiving Collect, and the Benediction.

On closer consideration, however, these parts appear to be no accidental,
ill-fitting conglomeration (a mere assemblage). Its characteristic features are
chiefly two.