# Der Lutheraner_St. Louis Missouri_1848 03 01_S115
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

At midday the table grace may be prayed just as the morning blessing; after the meal let there be read in order from the Bible, namely one or two chapters from the New Testament. On Sundays the passage from the Bible or from the Catechism for the afternoon service may also be read aloud, or the father of the household may ask the members of the household what they remember from the morning sermon; the grace after the meal concludes.

In the evening, family devotion — especially for the sake of small children — is to be held immediately after the evening meal; after the table grace has been said, let the father of the household read aloud one or two chapters from the Old Testament, and also ask what was remembered from the afternoon service, sing or read a hymn, perhaps add a few sayings on redemption, and let the children conclude with the evening blessing.

In Bible reading it is very advisable that the father of the household at least occasionally ask into which Chief Part — namely of the first three — what has been read belongs. Everything in which good works or sins are spoken of belongs to the first Chief Part; everything that treats of what God grants his believers through creation, redemption, and sanctification belongs to the second Chief Part; and every good thing for which we should ask, as well as every evil against which we should call upon God, belongs to the third Chief Part; or, to put it briefly: all doing and leaving-undone belongs to the first, all believing and hoping to the second, and all asking and thanking to the third Chief Part.

Let no one imagine this exercise too difficult, nor lose courage if the first attempts do not succeed at once; let one begin with the easiest, that is, with such passages as require no lengthy reflection, and in which the headings found above the chapters often give good pointers — for example: To which Chief Part does the description of the six days of creation, Genesis 1, belong? Answer: to the second Chief Part and the first Article. To which does the institution of the Sabbath, Genesis 2:2–3, belong? Answer: to the third Commandment. This exercise brings manifold benefit: it increases attentiveness in Bible reading, it sharpens reflection, it helps one to retain and to take to heart what has been read, and, in general, to hold God's Word sacred, to hear it gladly, and to learn it gladly; it leads more deeply into the understanding of the Catechism and thus into the coherence of pure doctrine; and the more diligently this exercise is carried on, the more everyone comes to love it — indeed, even children, as experience teaches.

Those who wish to hold family devotion twice a day may likewise make use of the suggestions given, practicing the Catechism in the morning and reading through the Bible in order in the evening. Finally, to those who wish to hold family devotion only once a day, it would be advisable to alternate between the exercise of the Bible and of the Catechism, so that, for example, today they conduct the Catechism in the manner indicated, and tomorrow, after reciting the first three Chief Parts, read from the Bible, namely from the New Testament.

Perhaps many a reader would like to know how many chapters the whole Bible contains, and how much time he would need to read through it once, depending on whether he reads one, two, or three chapters daily. To this the following serves as answer:

The Old Testament contains ............................. 921 chapters
and of these, the books from the first Book of Moses to Job contain ....... 479
The Psalms to the Song of Solomon ....................... 201
The Prophets ............................................ 241
The New Testament contains .............................. 260 chapters
The Apocryphal books contain ............................ 144 chapters

Total, 1325 chapters.

Whoever reads one chapter daily needs, for the whole Bible, 3 years, 7 months, 20 days.
Whoever reads 2 chapters daily needs 1 year, 9 months, 27 days.
Whoever reads 3 chapters daily needs 1 year, 2 months, 16 days.

Accordingly, that man of God so occupied with labors, Dr. Luther, apart from his other work — in which, after all, he had continually to do with God's Word — read seven chapters of the Bible daily, since he himself confesses that for some years he had read through it completely twice a year.

Now, one closing word to you, dear fathers of households!

Let yourselves be kept from regular family devotion by nothing — least of all by the often-alleged excuse of lack of time. Know that the loss of time here brings no loss at all, but only gain — not only for the soul, but also for one's daily occupation; and whatever time you would thus withhold from the dear God and his Word will bring you no blessing, as many have already experienced when they neglected family devotion for the sake of temporal concerns. Others again, who kept it despite every hindrance, have experienced the truth of what God promised Joshua: "You will make your way prosperous, and you will deal wisely in everything you do." If the early morning already calls you to your occupation, well then, leave your bed half an hour earlier, and you will gain time to sanctify your day's work with God's Word and prayer; for could you not, out of the twenty-four hours the day has, spare at least one hour in all, to devote to this wholesome exercise? Make it a fixed rule never to omit family devotion, except in cases of necessity, which after all seldom occur; for the more often you omit it, the more it becomes an evil habit. If you have not kept family devotion up to now, then begin by holding it at least in the morning; if you have already done this, then seek to hold it also in the evening. If you are willing, read at least occasionally at table a chapter from Holy Scripture as well. Should you at some time, for a longer or shorter period, have neglected family devotion, do not persist in this; do not grow weary and faint, but take up the work again with renewed zeal, and know that the wicked enemy seeks to hinder it all the more, the more it profits you and harms him. But pray diligently to God, that he may also work in you, in this matter, both to will and to do according to his good pleasure; finally, look not to those who are remiss and negligent in keeping family devotion, but look to those who show a praiseworthy zeal in it; become their followers and examples for others, and testify, as Joshua did, in word and in deed: "As for me and my house, we will serve the LORD!"

On the Power of the Keys, Absolution, and Confession.
(From Harleß's periodical.)
(Conclusion.)

A third question still remains to be answered: whether absolution, even when spoken by godless ministers, is efficacious. This question is to be answered confidently in the affirmative. For the Word of God and the divine institutions of grace have neither their origin nor their power from the one who administers them; they have these in themselves, for God has ordained them, and, wherever they are administered, he himself is effectively active through them. And the office itself remains holy, even though the one who holds it is unholy; for which reason the Lord, in the letters to the graceless bishops of Sardis and Laodicea (Rev. 3), indeed condemns their spiritual condition, but not their office, and does not hold it against the upright souls in the congregation (3:4) that they have made use of it up to now. A precious gift does not lose its value even when it reaches us from one who is an enemy of our benefactor. Moreover, the final decision as to whether someone has been born again or not belongs to God, and not to men; the Lord alone knows those who are his, 2 Timothy 2:19. Thus no man could be indubitably certain whether he becomes a partaker of divine grace through the ministerial office. In this uncertainty, however, we need not remain; rather, the institutions of grace entrusted to the Church have their origin, their essence, and the power indwelling in them from Christ alone, whoever may administer them, so long as this takes place according to the order fixed by the Lord himself. —

It is a wholesome ordinance that the Church — without forbidding anyone to confess also at any other time, should he have need of it — lets confession precede Communion: a custom demonstrable already from the beginning of the third century.* This is so arranged

*) Augsburg Confession, Art. 25. — General Articles of the Saxon Visitation, 1557: "No one shall be admitted to the venerable Sacrament of the Body and Blood of the Lord unless he has first sought private absolution from his regular pastor or deacon; and pastors and other ministers of the preaching office shall diligently examine the young and other persons as to doctrine, and shall instruct at all times, as much as possible, those who need instruction; but they shall burden no one with the recounting of secret sins, but shall, in the instruction, according to circumstance, bring to the persons exhortation to amendment and comfort, and, if they promise amendment, pronounce to them the absolution," etc., etc.