# Lehre und Wehre_St. Louis Missouri_Januar 1864_S27
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

Church and Contemporary Affairs. 27

How an American Lutheran Judges American Lutheranism.
The "Lutheran and Missionary," in No. 6 of this year, gives in an article — "The Acceptance of the Augsburg Confession as a Confession of Faith, and the Claims of American Lutheranism" — a sharp but faithful sketch of American Lutheranism. First he demonstrates to the American Lutherans that they accept not the whole Augsburg Confession as their confession of faith, but only the first 21 articles of doctrine, passing over the last 7 articles on the abuses — thus not much more than a fourth part of the Confession; further, that they accept even the articles of doctrine only insofar as fundamental doctrines are contained in them; but as to how the word "fundamental" is to be understood, they leave that to everyone's arbitrary judgment, according to which he declares whatever he wishes to reject to be non-essential, human elaborations and learned distinctions within the Confession. The "Lutheran" demonstrates this with examples drawn from the Trinity, original sin, the person of Christ, justification, the preaching office and the means of grace, the new obedience, the church, and the validity of the means of grace — all of which are most crudely distorted and falsified according to that favorite distinction between the fundamental and the non-essential. The "Lutheran" goes further still and shows how American Lutheranism openly declares war on the articles of baptism, the holy Supper and confession, and accuses the Augsburg Confession outright of error that must be rejected. Finally he remarks that the antithetical part of the articles of doctrine of the Confession is entirely set aside. On the strength of this demonstration the "Lutheran" concludes thus: Can any persons whatever, or can any church whatever, claim that by subscribing such a document they have given credible proof of their right to say: We accept the Augsburg Confession? It is not true that there exists in this our land a Lutheranism which, as against a sincere acceptance of the Confession — which is branded as Hyperlutheranism — has the slightest claim to say honestly: we accept the Augsburg Confession. To say this from the heart is, in the eyes of those who pretend to say it, a grave offense. They can do more than forgive those who have fallen away from our church — they can exalt them highly — but plain fidelity to their confession is unbearable to them. By their pretense of accepting the Confession they admit, albeit reluctantly, that this is what ought to be done by all who call themselves Lutherans, while the facts overwhelmingly prove that they do not accept it. Their actions are thus condemned by their own works. — We are curious to hear how men who speak so true and decided a word against American Lutheranism will bring their manner of acting into harmony with their words. Bh.

Abolitionism and the Sects. The editor of the "Cheerful Messenger," an organ of the United Brethren in Christ, answers, in the issue of Dec. 10 of last year, the members of his sect who had complained about his abolitionism: "If there are any among our brethren who did not formerly know what the principles of our church consist in (with regard to slavery), it is only proof that their eyes were opened at a very late hour. Whoever it may be who thinks that we, as a fellowship, ought now, after we have for more than half a century preached against American slavery, prayed for its extirpation, and done everything possible to expose this sin of all sins, fold our hands in our lap — all such are grossly deceived." Now, this zealous abolitionist does indeed say that his sect has done "everything possible" against slavery; but he seems in doing so to forget that they have at least not sacrificed a single cent of their beloved mammon against it, but have, as is well known, left this kind of emancipation to a society in a southern state; just as, in general, the most zealous abolitionist philanthropists have almost universally displayed a remarkable timidity before this means of agitation that makes a claim on their own purse — notwithstanding that, by their new bible, they regard slavery as the "sin of all sins," before which they are horrified in roughly the same way as a miser before extravagance, and as an ignoramus before the pride of the learned.