# Der Lutheraner_St. Louis Missouri_1848 03 01_S127
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

...He is the Lord who, beneath what seems folly to reason, conceals His highest divine wisdom. It can, however, be clearly shown that faith in the presence of the body and blood of Christ under the blessed elements is not a useless thing, but rich in the sweetest comfort. Very sweetly does the venerable Martin Chemnitz, co-author of the Formula of Concord, speak of this. He writes of it, among other things, as follows:

"First, our faith must lay hold of Christ the God-man in that nature by virtue of which He is near to us, related to us, and our brother; for the life which belongs to the Godhead dwells and is laid up, as it were, like a treasure in His assumed flesh. Because, then, weighed down by the burden of sin, we cannot press through to Christ as He reigns in glory, He comes to us, to take hold of us according to the nature by which He is our brother; and because our frailty cannot bear the splendor of His majesty in this life, He is present under the bread and wine and imparts to us His body and His blood.

Second, through sin we were so estranged from the life of the Godhead that our frailty could not bear the Godhead dealing with it directly; therefore Christ not only assumed our nature, but also restored it to us again, in that He offers us, in the Holy Supper, His body and His blood, that He may, through His assumed and to-us-imparted humanity, raise us up to communion and union with the Godhead.

Third, our nature was in the beginning created after God's image, and therefore adorned with all heavenly and divine gifts, which goods were laid up in Adam as the head of our race; but through the Fall not only were those goods lost, but our nature was corrupted by sin and destroyed by death. Therefore the Son of God took our nature upon Himself, yet without sin, and in it condemned sin, destroyed death, and filled it with life. And so He first sanctified human nature in His own person; but in order that we might be assured that this also concerns our own wretched nature in us, and is truly imparted to us, Christ offers us again, in the Holy Supper, that very nature which He took from us and which He first restored in Himself.

Fourth, the doctrine of the Gospel proclaims in general that through the giving up of the body and the shedding of the blood of Christ the wrath of the Father is reconciled and an eternal redemption obtained; but anxious and fearful hearts are frightened and dismayed by the sight of their sins, their unworthiness and weakness, and by manifold temptations, so that they begin to doubt whether they may appropriate the promises of the Gospel to themselves individually; Christ therefore imparts to them in the Holy Supper that very body which He gave into death for us, and that very blood which was shed for us, and by this sure and firm pledge He confirms the gift and appropriation of the promise of the Gospel.

Fifth, the human nature of Christ, after laying aside its weaknesses, is now in the glory of the Father; our nature, however, though according to the promise we have the hope of glorification, is still stained with dust, weighed down by hardships, and exposed to all the arrows of Satan, the world, and the flesh; so that our faith may not therefore be disturbed, Christ gives us His body and His blood, to assure us by this pledge that we too shall one day be made like His glorified body.

Sixth, the New Testament is the covenant of grace in the forgiveness of sins; this covenant was sanctified and confirmed before God through the shedding of the blood of Christ; so that we may now be certain that we shall always remain in this covenant, He therefore imparts to us, in the Holy Supper, that very blood by whose shedding it was confirmed.

Seventh, the Holy Supper was instituted for a remembrance of the benefits of Christ and for the strengthening of faith. But because true faith is laid hold of more firmly by Christ (Phil. 3:12), He therefore wills, by the laying hold of His life-giving flesh, to awaken, preserve, and confirm His true remembrance in us.

Eighth, Christ unites Himself in the Holy Supper with us through the nature by which He is our Head, namely through His body and His blood, most closely; therefore He works, precisely through the assumed nature that is related to us, mightily and effectively in believers, so that we too, because the Head Himself is in us, may reciprocally be members of one another." (Scriptum de coena.)

Jaczo, the Prince of the Wends.

In the year 1142 there died at Brandenburg the last Wendish ruler of that land, named Pribislav, who had accepted Christianity and had received in baptism the name Heinrich. Margrave Albrecht the Bear immediately took possession of the land and the town. But Jaczo of Köpenick, a Slavic prince of Polish stock, could not calmly look on while the land of his forefathers was to become the prey of a stranger, and the religion of his fathers rooted out. So he set out against Brandenburg with a numerous band of Wends — Brandenburg, which at that time consisted only of that part on which the cathedral now stands. On the Havel a fierce battle was fought; for the Wends, reinforced by very many of their own people from the surrounding country, had attacked the stronghold in boats and had made themselves masters of it. But Albrecht the Bear, supported by the Bishop of Brandenburg, Duke Henry the Lion, and many others with whom he had allied himself against this incursion of the Bohemians, hastened up, marched with a large army before Brandenburg, stormed the castle, and took it with the help of many vessels with which the fighting was carried on upon the Havel. Jaczo of Köpenick fled from Brandenburg with his army to the northern side of the Havel, before the pursuing Christians, in the direction of Spandau. On the fields between Groß-Glienicke and Spandau he was overtaken. A battle ensued. The Wends did not hold out long. They scattered completely, and Jaczo saw no way left to save himself. He fled eastward toward the Havel, which here is of considerable width. The enemy pursued him. Thus he reached the bank of the Havel. Before him lay the blue expanse of water spread out, and its waves rose and fell calmly. From the far side a spit of land stretched crosswise into the river and narrowed it. "Lord," cried a Wend who had followed him, "do not swim across the river, it is very deep!" Playfully the waves broke at the feet of his horse, as if inviting him to dare the bold crossing. "Merciless element!" cried the prince of the Wends. "My gods have forsaken me; so protect me now, Thou God of the Christians, and if I save myself across the flood, I vow to Thee to have myself baptized!" — "Seize the heathen prince!" came the cry behind him, and headlong he plunged with his horse, heavily armed, into the flood, which closed high over him. Only after a while did the laboring horse lift him up again, away from the wet depths near the shore. Marveling at his bold resolve, the enemy stood still, and did not dare to follow, nor even to send a single bolt after him. Wearier grew the efforts of the faithful horse; it snorted and panted anxiously for air. "Hold on, my faithful horse, hold on," he cried, "you are carrying your master out of the hands of the merciless Christians to their merciful God! Hold on, the land is already beckoning!" — A few more steps, and the horse felt ground beneath its feet. It climbed up onto the tip of the spit of land. Jaczo sank to his knees, and prayed to the God of the Christians to whom he had made his vow, and gave fervent thanks for his wonderful rescue. His shield, however, he laid as a votive offering on the spot where he had prayed.

The Germans who had witnessed his deed named this point of land from that time [illegible], and so it is called to this day.

The World and the Gospel.

The world truly wants none of the right ways, but always wants to go down the wrong road; either to do and work nothing at all, or not to believe; it always veers off to one side, so that it lets go either of faith or of love; the middle way it neither will nor can hit upon, so that it might practice both — faith toward God, pure and unimpaired, and love toward the neighbor, from an upright heart. The world always remains such that it either boasts falsely of faith, or wants to be all too holy without faith. If one preaches faith and grace, then no one wants to do works; if one presses works, then no one wants to hear of faith, and