# Lehre und Wehre_St. Louis Missouri_Juli 1862_S221
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

Church News of the Day. 221

serve to the best of their ability (!), according to the light they possess, and are ready to do all that heaven (!) may require of them, will undoubtedly be saved." These are the words of the Jesuit Father Weninger. This principle is probably the reason why he directs his missions among the baptized rather than among the heathen; for since the latter, if they do what is humanly possible, will undoubtedly be saved, it would indeed be foolish to trouble oneself further about them. They already have an unquestionable road to heaven without Christ and his Gospel! But if the Jesuits nevertheless carry on missions among the heathen, it seems they wish to win the heathen for the Pope rather than for Christ.

General Synod. According to the Observer of June 13, the delegates sent by the Miami Synod to the General Synod spoke "encouragingly of the unanimity and harmonious action of its members." The correspondent adds: "This speaks favorably for our Lutheran Zion, especially when we consider the various doctrinal views held by some of the leading men of our church. It certainly shows that our ministerium has love, and that one can bear with another." But this shows, too, that this love is a different one from that of which Paul writes: "It rejoiceth in the truth." 1 Cor. 13:6.

II. Abroad.

Conversion of the Jews. From the November issue of Lohmann's Lutheran Synodal Blatt, only belatedly sent to us, we learn that Pastor Crome of Rade vorm Walde, the compiler of the excellent Prussian-Lutheran hymnal, demonstrates convincingly, in an exegetical study of Romans 11:25-26, that a precise grasp of the wording of the eleventh chapter of the Epistle to the Romans furnishes nothing like grounds for the hope of a still-to-be-expected solemn conversion of the Jews. Given the boldness with which that passage is now almost universally pointed to as an irrefutable proof of that hope, the appearance of such an exegesis is itself an event.

Hanover. On April 14 of this year, the confirmation day of the crown prince, His Majesty the King of Hanover, by direct decree, abolished the old Hanoverian territorial catechism and ordained a new one for the whole land. It bears the title: Dr. M. Luther's Small Catechism, with Explanation. It closely follows the old catechism of Walther, formerly general superintendent at Celle. Dr. Münkel rejoices heartily over the book. In rationalist and liberal-minded circles, however, a vehement protest arose immediately upon publication of the royal ordinance. For the time being, an attempt is being made to attack the unwelcome book on grounds of the legal right of its introduction, inasmuch as a constitutional provision of 1848 states that the calling of a synod is required "whenever new church orders are to be issued for the whole kingdom or for individual parts of the land, or whenever changes are to be made in the essential principles of the same, and especially in the liturgy." Dr. Münkel, to be sure, nevertheless has no scruple about the formal right of introduction by the King, but it almost seems to us that his joy over a better book for the schools of the land makes him overlook scruples that, although in this case they serve merely as a pretext for hatred of God's Word, may not be altogether without some basis.

Anabaptism in Hanover. The following we read in Dr. Münkel's periodical: "The Ministry, the Anabaptists report, has finally seen fit to withdraw the harsh law of 1857, according to which the brethren were forbidden to hold meetings outside their place of residence. In consequence of this, the penalties dictated against the brethren Bolzmann, de Neui, and de Weerdt have been remitted." "Among the particular blessings the congregation has experienced, Bolzmann (in the city of Hanover) counts first of all that the Lord has inclined the heart of our territorial government in our favor and has removed from us the pressure of persecution and restriction, so that we may now visit our own people and proclaim to them God's Word not only in our own place of residence but also at our stations. Further, he has provided us a larger