# Lehre und Wehre_St. Louis Missouri_M rz 1864_S96
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

96   Church-Related Contemporary Affairs.

faithfully attend to the sick, the wounded, and the dying with instruction and comfort, and otherwise, in everything pertaining to his office, prove himself, in all humility and unwavering faithfulness, a true servant of Christ, going before all in an honorable and godly walk of life, and in particular cultivate good relations with the officers; that he render willing obedience to the orders of the field intendant set over him, or of his deputy, as his immediate superior, and in general conduct himself in such a way as he would be willing to answer for before the judgment seat of Christ our Lord." In his instructions the field preacher is especially charged with the duty of proclaiming God's Word to the troops, clearly and without abridgment, on every opportunity that offers itself, and of taking care that a sincere faith, active in obedience to divine and human law, be awakened in them, and that they be led to an honorable walk of life pleasing to God. He is to seek to attain this goal both in public worship services — which are to be held, as occasion allows, in a neighboring church or in the open, and which may be omitted on no Sunday or holy day except in cases of pressing necessity — as well as through regular morning and evening devotions, and especially with the sick, the wounded, and the dying. Concerning any gross sins or vices that have taken root, which he cannot check by the preaching of the divine Word or by particular pastoral admonitions, he is to report to the commandant concerned and request the ordering of such further necessary measures. Since he is to exercise pastoral care in its full extent, the performance of all occurring actus ministeriales, according to the legal provisions in force in Saxony, likewise falls to him within the units of troops to which he is attached. With regard to marriages in the field, he is authorized, in urgent cases, to dispense with the banns and to accept from the betrothed, by a handshake in lieu of an oath, the assurance that they are unmarried. He is to keep baptismal, marriage, and death registers after the manner of church registers and to hand these over to the Ministry after demobilization. The duplicates to be prepared by the non-commissioned officers charged with sacristan duties are to be sent monthly to the Ministry. He is to receive the reports on the deceased from the regimental commandants at the close of each month. The immediate superior of the field preacher is, so long as no field provost is present with the army, the field intendant. He must submit to the latter's orders in every case; but should he consider himself aggrieved and be unable to obtain redress through representations, the way of complaint to the Ministry of Ecclesiastical Affairs stands open to him.

Ehlers writes in his Kirchliches Zeitblatt of December 15: "The statement found in Pastor Räthjen's Kirchenzeitung, that the tears which the Archbishop of Gnesen shed at the Council of Constance, during prayer that God might root out heresy, may well have been more earnest and genuine than those of a preacher famous among the people of Breslau, I disapprove, because it presumes to a judgment upon consciences that belongs to God alone, who tries the hearts and reins."

Prof. von Zezschwitz, as is well known, has now resided for two years in Neudettelsau. A short time ago 55 students of theology at Leipzig addressed a petition to the Saxon Ministry, in which they request the recall of the aforementioned. Since 65 theology students have submitted a counter-address, that petition will probably be unsuccessful.

Papism. Twenty-five priests of the diocese of Grenoble (in France) recently addressed a joint request to the central committee of the Society of Saint Francis de Sales, asking for permission and the means to distribute the New Testament among Catholics. Their motives are not to make the people more familiar with the saving content of Scripture for their religious edification; rather, the petitioners' intention is aimed above all at securing the influence of the clergy against the distrust that arises against them on the basis of the prejudice, widespread among Protestants, that priests forbid the reading of the Bible in order shrewdly to keep the faithful in ignorance. Since, moreover, "the Word has power only through the thought it contains, and the church alone is the steward of the thoughts of God," care would accordingly be taken that the holy book not be given to the simple layman without the necessary commentary. The New Testament of the Abbé Glaive, which has been approved by the Holy See and furnished with explanatory notes and mass prayers, is to be the only one distributed. (Evangelischer Sonntagsbote.)