# Der Lutheraner_St. Louis Missouri_1848 03 01_S123
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

...the outward fellowship with Christians, but the faith of the heart, that makes you have fellowship with Christ and all his saints. For the ship of Christ, or his Church, is not an outward entity bound to certain persons, place, location, or external constitution, but is a spiritual, eternal entity, as the Lord says: "The kingdom of God is within you." From the fact that the Church is compared to a ship, it does not follow that all believers must be gathered together in one heap, like the people in a ship; rather, one is here, another there. Place, time, and external government do not bind them together, but faith does. However far apart they may be from one another, wholly unknown to one another by face, and even differing in outward customs and usages; nevertheless, if they have the same faith, and cling with true confidence to the common Head, the Lord Jesus Christ, then they are one, and before the eyes of God, who sees and knows them all, they are but one congregation, the little ship of Christ, on which he himself is present, and which cannot sink until the end of the world.

And because they are but one congregation, they also all have the same experiences, the same trials. As it went with the little ship of Christ there upon the sea, so it still goes, ever and again, with his Church on earth. As the tempest broke loose there as soon as Christ stepped into the ship with his disciples, so the world rises up against Christ, his Word, and his disciples, as the second Psalm says: "Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD and against his anointed." If the world could bear with Christ and his Word, why then did the Jews not receive him, when he preached to them in his own person, and did wonders and signs? Why did they hate him, why did they persecute and kill him? Yet he had done them nothing but good, and had invited them most kindly of all into the kingdom of God. Why, then, did they persecute the disciples and apostles of the Lord, who proclaimed to them the precious Gospel of Christ, redemption from sin and death? This is a factual proof that the world is filled with hatred and wrath against Christ, his Word, and his disciples. Not only the Jews, but also the heathen have oppressed and persecuted the Church of Christ; for three hundred years, until the time of the first Christian emperor, Constantine, the bloody persecution of the Christians lasted, when they were led daily to the slaughter-block like sheep for the shambles. And when heathenism had finally been overthrown, and Christianity had everywhere won the victory, then even those who boasted the name of the Church rose up as her persecutors. All who spoke against the godless abominations of the Roman papacy now became the object of cruel and bloody persecution, as the history of the Waldensians and the Hussites, among others, proves — a history consisting of an almost unbroken chain of cruelties and outrages which the tyranny of the Roman Church committed against them. But when through the precious instrument Dr. Martin Luther the bright light of the Gospel was rekindled, and the antichristian papacy had thereby only then truly become manifest, what an uproar then broke loose against Christ and his Church on the part of the pope and his horde! So that at that time the true believers might well have said: "If it had not been the LORD who was on our side, when men rose up against us, then they would have swallowed us up alive, when their wrath was kindled against us; then the waters would have overwhelmed us, the streams would have gone over our soul; the proud waters would have gone over our soul."

And if we look at the present condition of the Church: is she not the wretched and comfortless one, over whom every storm passes? It is true, it is no longer the pope who can rage so fiercely; but out of the Church purified through Luther there have themselves arisen so many sects, and these have now become so strong and mighty, that they threaten to swallow up the little flock of those who still hold unshaken to the pure Word and faith; so that it appears, to human eyes, almost impossible that the little ship of Christ can be preserved against the floods of sects and factions breaking in from every side.

But why should we wonder that it goes so, or why should we let this be an offense to our faith? Behind the raging and raving of the world is hidden the wrath of Satan, who has lain in wait for Christ and his Church from the beginning; and yet she has ever been wondrously preserved. So too, doubtless, she will remain until the Last Day. "God is in the midst of her, therefore she shall not be moved." We ought not let our faith sink, as the disciples did upon the sea: Lord, we perish, we perish! but rather boldly despise the devil and the world with all their wrath. Even if Christ appears as though he were asleep, as though he cared nothing that his Church hovers in such danger and distress; even if he permits Satan and his hordes to attack his Church with great violence: he wills thereby only to demonstrate his power and might all the more gloriously. He lets his enemies rise up and become mighty, so that he may display his power upon them all the more gloriously. When he is silent, they think they have won, and exalt themselves with great pride and insolence. But this lasts no longer than until he, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, awakens, and lets his divine power and might be seen and felt again; then those who before rose up defiantly against him must go down in shame. And though we may not see this sooner, because the end of all things has drawn near, yet we shall see it on that great day, when Christ shall appear in his glory together with the angels of his power. Meanwhile let us plead and pray that we may be preserved within the little flock with whom Christ is, and hold fast to the comfort that we have an almighty Lord and Savior, who is stronger than all his enemies, who brings us out of all strife and conflict to eternal rest. It does not surprise the sailor that he must struggle with storm and waves, so long as he is still upon the sea; but he does not look at what is present, but his gaze and his hope look further, toward the safe harbor, where, after enduring distress and danger, he enjoys the longed-for rest. So let us too direct our hearts and thoughts toward the harbor of eternal blessedness, at which our little ship shall finally land. For we have God's strong and certain promise that it shall not sink, if only we remain in the ship, that is, keep Christ with us through a true, steadfast faith. If the joy of those who cross the sea is so great when they behold the long-desired land, when, delivered from the prison of the ship, they set their liberated foot upon the shore: oh, how unspeakable will the joy be, when the perilous voyage over the sea of this world is completed; when we have arrived in our eternal homeland, in the land of true freedom; when everything that caused us fear, dismay, and terror lies behind us, and an eternally golden future lies before us — ah, bring us all thither, O Jesus! Amen.

(Contributed.)

The Martyr Heinrich of Zütphen.
After Luther.
(Conclusion.)

Night fell; as the Ave Maria bell was rung, the peasants gathered in all the villages and marched to Hemmingstet, where about five hundred came together. When it was disclosed to them for what purpose they had been called, the common people wished to withdraw and not commit such an evil deed. But the captains commanded them, on pain of life and limb, to remain, and also gave them three casks of Hamburg beer to drink, so that they might become the bolder for it. It was twelve o'clock at midnight when they came, armed, to Meldorf. The Jacobite, or preaching, friars gave them light and torches, so that they might see and the good Heinricus not escape them; a traitor, named Hennings Hans, showed them the way. By force they broke into the parsonage, and, as drunken, senseless people are wont to do, smashed everything that was there — jugs, kettles, clothing, and cups; but whatever gold and silver they found, that they took with them. Thereupon they abused the parson, hacked, stabbed, and cried: strike him dead! strike him dead! Some thrust him naked into the street, into the filth, and wanted to carry him off with them. The others cried out that he should be let go, for they had no order to take him prisoner.

When they had thus vented their violence upon the parson, they fell upon the good Brother Heinricus, tore him from his bed, struck and stabbed him, and bound his hands very fast behind his back. Then they dragged and shoved him so long that even Peter Nannen,