# Der Lutheraner_St. Louis Missouri_1848 05 24_S176
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

came; he no longer serves for us here. We will regard Moses as a teacher, but we will not regard him as our lawgiver, unless he agrees exactly with the New Testament and with the natural law. One can also prove from the Third Commandment that Moses concerns neither the Gentiles nor the Christians. For Paul and the New Testament abolish the Sabbath; for in the New Testament the Sabbath no longer holds in the plain, outward way, since every day is a holy day, and so forth.

Now someone might say, why then do you preach Moses, if he does not concern us? Answer: I find three things in Moses that can be quite useful to us. First, the commandments given to the people of Israel that concern outward matters I let go; they do not compel or press me — these laws are dead and done with, except insofar as I wish gladly and willingly to accept them from Moses. I would indeed be glad if rulers governed according to Moses' example — not that Moses should compel me, but that it would be free for me to conduct such a government as he governed. As with giving the tithe — that is truly a fine commandment. Likewise, that no one should sell a field as a permanent inheritance. There are many more such commandments in Moses, all of which one could gather together to form a fine government, and thereby govern land and people in an orderly and honorable manner. Now when the fanatical spirits come and say: Moses commanded it — then let Moses go, and say: I care nothing for what Moses has commanded. Yes, they say, Moses commanded that one should have one God, trust and believe in him, not swear by his name, honor father and mother, not kill, not steal, not commit adultery, and so forth — should one not keep that? Then say: nature has these laws too; that one should call upon God, the heathen show this as well. For there has never been a heathen who did not call upon his idols, although they missed the true God, as St. Paul also shows, Rom. 2:15: they have the Law written in their hearts. And it is natural to them to honor God, not to steal, not to commit adultery, and so forth, and it is nothing new that Moses commands. So I now keep the commandments that Moses gave, not because Moses commanded them, but because they are implanted in me by nature, and Moses here agrees exactly with nature.

Secondly, I find in Moses something I do not have from nature, namely the promises and pledges of God concerning Christ. And this is almost the best thing in the whole of Moses — something not written into hearts by nature but coming down from heaven — namely, that God promised his Son should be born into the flesh; this the Gospel proclaims to us. As when God said to the serpent, Gen. 3:15: I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; he shall crush your head, and you shall strike his heel. That is the first Gospel of Christ that occurred on earth, that he should overcome sin, death, and hell, and save us from the power of the serpent — which Adam believed, together with all his descendants, by which he too became a Christian and was saved from his fall. Likewise, the second Gospel of Christ, when God said to Abraham: through your seed shall all the peoples of the earth be blessed. Likewise, in the fifth book Moses says to the people of Israel: The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me, from among you and from your brethren; him shall you obey. There are many such sayings in the Old Testament, to which the believing Jews held fast.

One must handle and treat Scripture carefully. The Word has come to pass in many different ways from the beginning; one must not only consider whether it is God's Word, whether God has spoken it, but rather to whom it was spoken — whether it applies to you or to someone else. Here it divides, as summer from winter. There are two kinds of word in Scripture: one does not concern me and does not touch me; the other touches me, and upon that which concerns me I may boldly venture and rely on it as upon a strong rock; if it does not concern me, I should stand still. Leave Moses and his people together; it is finished with them, it does not concern me; I hear the word that concerns me. We have the Gospel; Christ says: Go and preach the Gospel, not only to the Jews, but to all the heathen, indeed to every creature. I am told: whoever believes and is baptized shall be saved. These words apply to me too, for I too am one of all creatures. So I believe the word, that it also concerns me; therefore I venture upon the word, even should it cost a hundred thousand necks. This distinction preachers who wish to teach other people, indeed all Christians, should mark well, grasp, and take to heart. For the whole matter depends entirely on this. And where we come to understand it otherwise, we create sects and factions.

Thirdly, we read Moses for the sake of the beautiful examples of faith, love, and the cross in the dear, holy fathers, from which we should learn to trust God and love him. On the other hand, we also see the examples of unbelief, of the godless, and of the wrath of God — how God does not overlook the unbelief of the unbelieving, how he punished Cain, Ishmael, Esau, the whole world with the Flood, Sodom and Gomorrah, and so forth. Therefore Moses should not be tucked away under the bench, and thus the Old Testament is rightly understood when one retains the beautiful sayings about Christ from the prophets, and grasps and marks well the beautiful examples, and when we use the laws according to our good pleasure and make them useful to ourselves.

"Dear brothers, if a person is overtaken by some fault, you who are spiritual, help him get right again with a gentle spirit; and watch yourself, that you too are not tempted."
Gal. 5:1.

How much one finds in life that offends against this saying! Just as the Novatians once would receive no fallen person back into the church, so today many likewise dismiss even tried and faithful friends, out of love and hope, as soon as they have been overtaken by some fault or sin. What is more common among the most respected "Christians" than utterances like these: "So-and-so cannot be a Christian, for he has done this and that. How could he talk that way if he were a Christian? There is nothing to him, for he was there and there too. Since I heard this and that about him, I can no longer stand him. I want nothing more to do with him, for this and that about him did not please me at all," etc., etc. And this sharp, strict judging spirit often goes so far that it hopes for no improvement, though love hopes all things. Indeed, one not only no longer hopes, but even when manifest signs of improvement invite new love and new trust, one still does not believe it, but instead lets it feed suspicion. It almost looks as if it should not be written: "Let him who has stolen, steal no more," but rather: "Whoever has sinned is lost." What hope would these fine and honorable Christians have formed for David, when he was guilty of murder and adultery; for Peter, when he became guilty of open hypocrisy at Antioch; for the apostles Paul and Barnabas, when they quarreled with one another over Mark — ah, for so many, many Christians whose course of life resembles not the quiet, even course of a meadow brook, but the mountain stream that makes its way to its goal amid obstacles and roaring? Yes, yes, dear reader! Let me just say it! These distinguished Christians often do not believe in the conversion of a sinner whose gross sins lay before people's eyes! They look upon an Augustine, even after he has become a bishop, with suspicion because of his earlier life, and can summon no respect or reverence for anyone who, after great sins, has pressed through to sanctification! And this conduct they then call Christian prudence — and whoever does not have it, whoever goes after the sinner and admonishes him, they call, if he does not succeed in saving the soul, an inexperienced person whose failure they claim to have foreseen and foretold — indeed they call him, if with longer patience he keeps pursuing the lost one, a companion of tax collectors and sinners. They would wipe their garments if they had to sit next to a Magdalene, even after she has offered the precious nard of heavenly love to Christ Jesus.

Ah, leave me alone, you saints! You yourselves are indeed nothing but whitewashed tombs! You are this, and do not know it! Or do you know it, and act this way nonetheless? Then you are not merely hypocrites, but also disciples of the haughty spirit who, in his deepest awareness, carries his own ruin within him — and is hostile toward others who are less wicked than he, though certainly still not him.

Grant us, O friend of sinners, patient love toward sinners! Help us, Lord, to bear the gossip of these fine Christians, who esteem the shining righteousness of their own life more highly than the mercy of God in Christ Jesus! Ah, dear Lord, forgive us our daily sins, and teach us to pray with your Church the words: "Cleanse your Christendom of its sins and — vices." (Löhe.)

Received
a) for the church in Palmyra:
$4.00 from the congregation of Rev. P. Brohm in New York. $5.85 from the congregation of Rev. P. Saupert in Evansville, Ind.

b) for the mission on the Cass River in Mich.:
$3.86¼ from the Lutheran congregation in Horse Prairie, Ill.

Through Rev. P. Richmann:
$3.19 from the Trinity congregation in Fairfield Co., Ohio. $1.49 from the St. James congregation there. $2.29 from the St. Peter's congregation in Hocking Co., Ohio. 31 cts. from the St. John's congregation there.

c) for the Synodical Mission Fund:

$1.00 from Rev. P. Lehmann in Cape Girardeau.

Paid.
For the 4th volume: Messrs. D. Gross, G. Heilbronn, Jakob Kiefer, Jakob Letz, Rud. Ohm, C. Reinhold, H. Rinker, P. Röbbelen (2 copies), J. Mich. Vehe, Prof. Winkler.
For the second half of the 4th volume: Mr. Mich. Merz.
For the 5th volume: Mr. Prof. Winkler; Heinr. Gerken through No. 19.

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