# Lehre und Wehre_St. Louis Missouri_Februar 1864_S52
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

52 Church Service and Military Service.

Thus writes Johann Gerhard: “The servants of the Church are therefore not to be compelled to be present in the army with the others (unless it be for the sake of divine service), so that they perform guard duty along with the others, etc., though many add the qualification: if the fatherland finds itself in the utmost distress and the most pressing danger exists that it may fall into the hands of the enemy, then churchly persons, if they are numerous and skilled in the use of weapons, are obligated to bring aid to the republic that is close to ruin.” *) That Gerhard himself belongs to those who make this “qualification” we see from an earlier remark made by him. To the objection of those who justify the bishops' waging of war — that indeed, according to Deut. 20:2 and Num. 10:9, the priests are commanded to be in the camp and to blow the trumpets — Gerhard answers as follows: “In the same way, the servants of the Church are present in the camp still today, not in order to fight, unless a suddenly arising case and the utmost necessity demand it, but in order to teach, to exhort, to console, to administer the sacraments, to pray, and to encourage prayer.” **) The old Leipzig theologian Hieronymus Kromayer speaks more fully on this. He writes: “Military duties, except in the case of utmost necessity, are not fitting for a servant of the Church. I speak here, first, of military duties which pertain to the soldier as such, who now attacks the enemy, now repels him, etc. I do not, then, deny the servant of the Church in the camp his official duties, but only the military ones. I except the case of utmost necessity. For it is permitted to do, extraordinarily, what is ordinarily to be omitted. Beyond this he may not meddle in the war, as being a matter foreign to him, 1 Pet. 4:15. For instruction (in didacticis) this is useful (to know), so that each may know and observe the bounds of his office, and so that a servant of the Word may have no erring conscience in wartime — from which, as Sleidanus writes, L. 8, ad annum 1531, p. 221, Zwingli suffered. For, considering within himself that, if he stayed home and the battle turned out unhappily, he himself would bear the great disgrace of having, it is true, inflamed the minds of men through his preaching, but of having himself grown faint-hearted in the hour of need, he resolved that he would

*) “Thus, then, the ministers of the church are not to be compelled to take the field (except for sacred purposes), or to undertake guard duty along with the others, etc.; though some add here the qualification that, if the fatherland stands in the utmost peril, and the most pressing danger exists that it fall into enemy hands, then ecclesiastical persons, if they are numerous and skilled in arms, are bound to bring aid to the republic that is on the verge of ruin.” Loc. de magistratu polit., §440.

**) “On the same principle, the ministers of the churches are present in camp still today, not for the sake of fighting, unless a sudden emergency and extreme necessity demand it, but for the sake of teaching, exhorting, consoling, administering the sacraments, praying, and rousing others to prayer.” Ibid., §398.