# Lehre und Wehre_St. Louis Missouri_Juni 1863_S175
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

Dr. Hengstenberg's Position on the Questions of Office and Church Government. 175

preached into the people, and the counter-teaching struck from the hands of its
enemies with irresistible force. And as Luther teaches, so did
the church in ancient times after him, e.g. P. Leyser in the continuation
of Chemnitz's Harmony: "As all citizens of a free imperial city,
as many of them as inhabit the city, have a common right and
equal freedom as far as the republic is concerned, and yet, for the sake of order,
elect senators and set over them a mayor, to whom they
hand over the keys and statutes of the city, so that he may administer them
in the common name of all and govern the republic according to
them — so also do the citizens of the city of God act. They have indeed a
fellowship of all the saints, and everything is theirs, be it Paul or Peter, be
it life or death, be it the present or the future,
1 Cor. 3:21; they possess all things under one Head, Christ, who has
earned by his bloody merit everything necessary to salvation for his church, and
within it in particular for each member, even the least. And yet
they choose, for the sake of order, certain
persons to whom they entrust the administration of the keys of the kingdom of heaven,
such as among us are deacons, pastors, doctors, bishops or
superintendents and the like, so that among us everything, according to Paul's teaching,
may proceed properly and honorably, 1 Cor. 14." Likewise Gerhard and
many other confessors of the truth teach. (See "Church and Office," page
377 and following.) How, then, can men like Stahl and Hengstenberg, who
are learned men, whose judgment exercises such great influence, whose responsibility
must therefore also be very great, write such untruths into the world,
[claiming] that this teaching, so loudly, so decidedly, so generally known as the old, purely Lutheran
teaching, is a "new dream"! —

And how, then, does H. establish the old, warmed-over papist dream of
Dr. Stahl? Let one hear! He says: "That Stahl has the Word of God
on his side in this teaching lies plainly before us. Those who
let the office grow up out of the congregation have facts against
them, such as this: that Paul, „„an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God,““
without any action of the congregation, authorized Titus,
whom he himself had appointed as his helper, likewise without any action of the congregation,
to install presbyters — corresponding to our pastors —
in every city of his district, Tit. 1:5." How untenable this claim
is, how entirely grasped out of thin air, is shown to us by men like Luther, Chemnitz,
[and] Gerhard. Luther says: "But you say: Did not St. Paul
command Timothy and Titus that they should install priests? So we also read,
Acts 14:23, that Paul and Barnabas ordained priests among the congregations.
Therefore the congregation cannot call anyone, nor may anyone
put himself forward to preach among the Christians, but one must have the
leave and command of bishops, abbots, or other prelates, who sit in the
apostles' place. Answer: If our bishops and abbots, etc.,
were indeed in the apostles' place, as they boast themselves to be, that would well be an opin-