# Der Lutheraner_St. Louis Missouri_1848 04 18_S130
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

which the Holy Spirit, through the mouth of the holy Apostle, has so earnestly commanded His Church to preserve. For as soon as this liberty is weakened, and human commandments are forced upon the churches as necessary, as though the omission of them were wrong and sin, the way is already prepared for idolatry."

3. Luther speaks in many passages of his writings of Christian liberty, and does so also with particular reference to confession, as appears from the following. In a letter to Joh. Agricola from the year 1527 he says, among other things: "Liberty is no small thing, even though it concerns a small matter, for it was purchased with the blood of the Son of God; that is the price at which it was won. It therefore does not amount to much boasting of love, if one nevertheless violates liberty; for if love is free to act against liberty, then it will also be free to act against the whole Gospel."

Luther's great praise of confession had been made use of, among others, by a Catholic pastor at Esslingen, who appealed to him in order to retain private confession in his Lutheran-minded congregation; "Luther himself," he had said, "praises and commends confession." The congregation at Esslingen asked Luther's advice, and in his answer to their letter he does not, in the first place, rebuke the fact that the Catholic parson had applied what Luther had said and praised concerning purified confession to the actual popish auricular confession, but rather overlooks this and wishes the following to be understood concerning confession in general instead. He speaks thus: "As for the other matter, we have taught the other chief article, that Christian life is love toward one's neighbor, that henceforth we have no law, nor are obligated to anyone, except to love. Rom. 13. So that we may thereby do good to our neighbor, as Christ has done to us through His blood. Therefore all laws, works, and commandments that are required of us in order to serve God thereby, to atone for sin, are not of God, and whoever holds them* denies Christ; such are fasting, observances, confessions, and so forth. But whatever law, work, and commandment is required of us for the service of our neighbor, these are good; these we should do, as obeying, following, and serving the worldly authority in its government, feeding the hungry, helping the needy. From this it follows: since confessing is a work that is not directed toward the neighbor, and one does not thereby serve him, it is in no way commanded, nor necessary to be kept. And whoever does it as though it were necessary and one must do it before God, he too denies Christ; for no work at all may remain necessary against sin, since Christ's blood alone blots out sin. It is true that I have said it is a good thing to confess. Likewise, I do not forbid or prohibit fasting, pilgrimage, eating fish, keeping feasts. But only in such a way that this be done freely, and that no one who does none of these things act as though he must do it upon his conscience, upon pain of mortal sin, as the Pope

*) Namely, in the meaning stated.

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rages with his blind leaders. The conscience we will and should keep free in all works that do not serve faith or the love of the neighbor. Confess, then, in good confidence; fast, in good confidence, if you will; but do not think that it must be so, and that you sin if you omit it, or that you wish thereby to atone for your sin before God; for with that meaning you fall from faith and are no longer a Christian." In the exposition of the epistle for the fourth Sunday in Advent, Luther, in explaining the verse 1 Cor. 9, 19–22: "I am made a Jew to the Jews," etc., "I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some," says the following: "That is as much as to say, he ate and drank and conducted himself with the Jews according to the Law, although it was not necessary for him, and with the Gentiles he ate, drank, and conducted himself without the Law, as the Gentiles do, since only faith and love are necessary. All else is free, to be kept or left. Therefore one may accommodate all of this to one person's will, and leave it to another's will, and thus make oneself agreeable to each. Now if here a blind and stubborn person were to arise, wanting one thing kept or observed as some Jews did, and it must therefore be so, and everyone should conform to him, and he to no one — then equality would be destroyed, indeed also Christian liberty and faith would be disturbed. To such a one should no ground be yielded, as St. Paul did, so that liberty and truth might remain. Likewise Christ, Matt. 12, 1 and Mark 2, let His disciples break the sabbath, and He Himself broke it often, where it was necessary; where it was not necessary for Him, He kept it, and gave the reason for it, and said: the Son of Man is Lord also of the sabbath, that is, the sabbath is free — one may break it for the love and service of another, and likewise keep it for the love of another. Thus St. Paul circumcised Timothy for the sake of the Jews, says Luke; but Titus he would not allow to be circumcised, because they insisted on it and would not leave circumcision free. He wished to have the power to do both, in service to others, but would let no one be compelled on account of the work itself, as though it must be so. So that we come to our own point. When the Pope commands confession, receiving of the sacrament, fasting, eating fish, and all his other commandments, and insists on it, that one must do it out of obedience to the Church, then one should simply trample it underfoot with a will, and do precisely the opposite of what he has commanded, so that liberty may remain. But if he did not command it, then one should, out of goodwill, keep it along with those who keep it, and again leave it alone along with those who leave it alone, and say, as Christ says: the Son of Man is Lord also of the sabbath, let alone

of such human laws. For from such liberty kept, no harm comes, either to faith or to the Gospel. But kept out of necessity and obedience, it destroys faith and the Gospel." — Tom. I. Altenb. fol. 795, he also wishes

that "confession not be made into a stall of necessity and fitted out with commandments, but rather that it remain free, as virginity does." — Further he says: "If the Pope were to give his commandments in such a way that he left consciences free, and allowed that whoever wished might keep it freely, then the matter would carry no danger." Further: "If you do not wish to confess a secret sin out of a free heart, then simply let it be; you are not bound to it by the Pope's laws, until devotion comes upon you — otherwise you run to the sacrament to the grievous harm of your soul, of which through such unwillingness you are not capable. But confess to your God, with David, Psalm 32: 'I said, I will confess my transgression unto the LORD.' In this manner all the saints have had to confess in the Old Testament, and afterward up to the time of the Pope's laws. — Freely, freely, willingly and gladly should one confess, teach, and

practice it; if one cannot do this, then let commandment and compulsion likewise be set aside." —

There could still be more passages cited from Luther, but those adduced will fully suffice to show how one must understand him in the passages in which he extols private confession so exceedingly, so as not to take him one-sidedly and thereby confuse his own conscience, and perhaps that of others, and especially so as not, in our own time, to curtail the Christian liberty of those who, for reasons of their own conscience, prefer general confession and absolution to private confession.

It now remains still, briefly, to confirm all that has been said

4. from the practice of the Lutheran Church. In the first Saxon Church Order, the so-called Visitation Articles of the year 1538 — thus eight years after the presentation of the Augsburg Confession — it says, among other things: "Confession shall and must remain free, so that a new papal compulsion and a necessary custom may not arise from it again." Of himself Dr. Luther says: "And I, Dr. Martin, myself sometimes go [to the Sacrament] without having confessed, so that I do not make for myself a necessary habit upon my conscience; yet on the other hand I make use of confession chiefly for the sake of absolution, that is, for the sake of God's Word." Further it is stated, after it has rightly been noted that "the young and unrefined (not well-instructed) people must be guided and taught differently than the understanding and practiced people," nevertheless soon afterward: "yet only insofar as it all remains free — not forbidden to those who wish to make use of that absolution and who perhaps prefer to have it from their own pastor rather than from another, since he is a public churchman, and perhaps cannot do without it either. Again, those who beforehand, without compulsion, are well instructed in the faith and in the doctrine of Christ, and who wish to confess to God alone and receive the Sacrament on that basis, are to be compelled no further, for each one takes that upon his own conscience, 1 Cor. 11, 28." That the blessed Luther himself made use, on several occasions, of the liberty granted here, we see from his own words; how