# Der Lutheraner_St. Louis Missouri_1848 05 02_S144
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

his church, and who might be held back by the thought that the reward which faithful servants are to expect in this world for their most arduous service is, for the most part, poverty, contempt, and hardship. We hope, however, that young people also, who have already dedicated themselves to the Lord, will be roused by this beautiful letter to remain faithful to their resolve. Finally, there lies also in this letter, flowing from a truly Christian heart, an urgent call to steadfastness for every one who, through God's grace, has resolved even only to enter the Christian estate and to fight under the banner of the cross for his dear Lord Jesus Christ against flesh, world, and devil. The letter reads as follows:

My son!

I awaited your last letter with longing, hoping thereby to obtain some inward refreshment. But instead it has caused me no small grief; since I must learn, and indeed with astonishment, that on account of so small a storm which is passing over the Evangelical Church, you intend to withdraw from the vineyard of your Lord—just as if it were wholly unknown to you that our Savior will reward, not those who have only begun to walk according to his will, but those who persevere to the end. The words of Christ have long been known to you, where he says: "You shall weep and lament, but the world shall rejoice; you shall be sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy." (John 16:22.) Has not our King and our Head himself, out of unspeakable love toward us, for our sake endured so much, indeed from his childhood even to his death on the cross, so that he had to cry out: Behold, if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow, which has come upon me (see Gerhard's Meditations, no. 2, likewise Ps. 88:4, Isa. 53:3-4)? Why, then, should his members not also suffer a little with him and for his name's sake? It is not possible to attain the crown of life, if one does not patiently and steadfastly endure the fight, after the example of Christ; and if one does not lose the temporal life for his sake, one cannot inherit that heavenly life. Though heaven, and the crown which we are to receive there, are dear to me, yet it will not be given to me except I have carried it off in a victory. The condition of the church, both in the Old and the New Testament, is not unknown to you. Remember, my son, the times of Elijah. In what wretched condition was not then the little flock of the saints, so that Elijah himself supposed he alone was left; yet God convinced him otherwise. But he also gave him to understand that it must be so with the church. For when he once revealed himself to him, he let him perceive first a strong wind, which tore the mountains and broke the rocks; after the wind came an earthquake, after the earthquake a fire, and only after the fire a still, small voice. (1 Kings 19:11.) Under such a banner of the cross, borne before them by Christ, have all the saints and elect who have ever been, or shall be, likewise fought; and they would not even, as blessed Arndt writes, acknowledge us as their brethren, if we too were not willing to fight beneath such a banner.

Whoever thinks one day to receive the crown of life from God, must let no cross or sorrow overcome him in this vale of misery.

It seems very strange to me that I should see your hope in God sink so quickly under present circumstances. Far be that from you! Perhaps you are anxious as to how you might one day get on in the world. Those are needless anxieties. God the Lord, whose power is subject to no change, who formed you in the womb after his own image, and gave you at the same time a rational soul, that you might know your Creator, will never forsake you, provided only that you let yourself be led by his Holy Spirit, and so walk as he would have you walk—even should he lead you through the valley of death. Your intention springs from your corrupted mind, indeed from an unbelieving and wavering heart. Consider well the words of your Jesus, which he spoke to his disciples, but also to you: "The cup [of suffering] that I drink, you shall also drink, and with the baptism with which I am baptized, you shall be baptized." (Matt. 20:23.) Therefore turn neither to the left nor to the right from that which you once resolved upon, and to which God the Lord has called you. I, your mother, desire in no wise that you, my children, should enjoy constant rest and ease in the world; rather my sole desire is this, that I myself may one day, together with your dear father and with you, sit and remain at the threshold of the heavenly tabernacle, in the service of my Savior. Take, my son, an example from us, your afflicted parents. You well know how great our persecution has been, so that we have had to suffer much, not only from the enemies of evangelical truth, but even from our own fellow believers. The world has had no wish to comfort us; yet because our Jesus has let us taste the sweetness of following him, we have borne all this with joyfulness and patience. Indeed, were it pleasing to my God, I would count it a happiness to lay down even my life for his sake. Is it likewise unknown to you that blessed Luther greatly regretted that he must take his blood with him into the grave, which he would gladly have shed to please Christ? You claim, indeed, that you are also, by nature, not disinclined toward medicine; but these are vain thoughts. Your desire, which you have carried both for theology and for medicine, is not unknown to me. Therefore I, as your faithful mother, have always allowed you, alongside your chief purpose, to look somewhat into medicine as well, in order thereby the better to attend to the constitution of your body. But since you left your fatherland for the very purpose of devoting yourself to theology, the small storm now passing over the Evangelical Church should by no means hold you back from it. Christ has engraved his Zion upon his hand; therefore it is impossible that he should forsake us, once he has tried our faith and found us faithful. Rather entreat God's forgiveness for this; bend your knees before the face of God, and beseech your Jesus that he may forgive you this, and strengthen your faith, as he did that of those disciples,

so that neither death nor life, neither the present nor the future, may be able to separate you from him. I know this better than you, that God called you from your youth into his vineyard. You have also shown as much, through various undertakings, from your childhood on; your teachers have likewise observed the same in you since. Why, then, should you cast all this to the wind, and let your efforts hitherto go for nothing? The desire that you bear, to serve God and your neighbor in your fatherland, is in itself indeed not evil; this too will come to pass, if we will trust in God's goodness. Yet hope in God alone, and do not long for the fatherland, but consider rather how you may one day come into the true heavenly fatherland. For that we must strive and struggle. There we shall all come together, even though the world should part us from one another. I believe surely, and am assured, that God the Lord will use you as one of the least of his servants to renew his Zion. Here I cannot help but remind you of words which I often recall with joy, that fell from you in your tender childhood. When you once asked the shepherd in the garden whether he would not rather become a shepherd of souls, and he said no to that, you answered him: you would rather become a spiritual shepherd, and pasture human souls; since the Lord Jesus also calls himself a shepherd of souls, and has laid down his life for the spiritual sheep. When I heard this, and even then perceived in you a great inclination toward it, I called upon God with tears, and gave you over to his service, as that mother gave her Samuel, with the petition that he would guide you according to his will, and prepare you as a vessel, so that you might one day, in the Christian church, set right the straying sheep and lead them to a wholesome pasture. Therefore depart not from that which pleased you even in your childhood, and to which God has called you, but remain faithful to your Lord; and should it even be needful to lay down your life for him, you must be ready and willing to take this upon yourself—this too works for your good. For death cannot harm you, but will only the sooner help you to your Archshepherd in heaven. Herewith I commend you to God, etc.

Received

for the seminary in Altenburg (collected by Mr. P. Keyl):

In Milwaukee ...... $.88
In Freistadt ...... $3.33
In Kirchheim ...... $1.28
From Mr. Meyer ...... $0.94
[total] $14.43

for the Lutheran mission:
From various persons in Milwaukee, at $1.00 each.

Paid.

The 2nd half of the 3rd volume: Mr. H. L. Dannettel.

The 1st half of the 4th volume: Mr. E. Zischer.

The 2nd half of the 4th volume: Messrs. Conr. Duchardt, Ellinger.

The 4th volume: Messrs. G. Albach, P. Baumgart, W. Brodbeck, H. L. Dannettel, H. Eggers, Dr. Haynel, Jockel, Ad. Leistner, C. G. Müller, Fr. Meyer, Ad. Röhrich, Schäfermann, Thöle.

Printed by Arthur Olshausen, publisher of the Anzeiger des Westens.