# Lehre und Wehre_St. Louis Missouri_Mai 1864_S138
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

138 The League of the Sister Churches.

can be, so can the fatherhood of the other. There friendship ceases, and kinship too. There it is said, rather: I hate, O Lord, those who hate you, and I do not sit where the scoffers sit. That is love toward the scoffers and the haters. He, however, the United conclusion-maker, wants also to sweeten this kinship for us by pointing to the mutual benefit involved. Sisters, after all, also love one another because they serve one another. And the younger sister, especially, has much service to expect from the older, first-born one. It is therefore rather fitting for the younger to pay good heed to the voice and counsel of the older, and to meet her with a certain reverence and obedience. So it is, indeed. And yet the conclusion, in a spirit of self-denying love, says first: "the papal church cannot do without the Lutheran," and only afterward: "nor the Lutheran without the papal." — In fact, at midnight, down in the dark valley, there is a little light upon the paths and byways (although one still stumbles left and right), because next to the valley, up on the mountain, there stands a mighty fortress in which bright lights are burning. But do those above need the lights from below, or do those below need the lights from above? The Lutheran church exists by the grace of God, and not by the grace of his papal holiness. Were it otherwise, the sword-and-fire practice of Rome would long ago have crushed and ground Wittenberg to powder, and the present practice of love, peace, and gentleness would not have been necessary. Yet what will a loving father not do, to win back his lost son? He can humble himself down into the dust, to satisfy his longing.

But the kinship is not yet at an end. There are still more sisters. They too must be brought in. The aunt-, cousin-, and godparent-relationship must become a universal one. Only then can it be gazed upon in wonder as a miracle of these latest times, which after all must also accomplish something great. Hence it goes on to say: "And both again each have a sister behind them: the Greek and the Reformed, to whom they are directed by God's providence." — That means: God wills that you, Lutheran — especially you, hidebound Lutheran, you Missouri Lutheran — should show due respect not only to the Roman Catholic church, but also to the Greek Catholic; and not only to these two, but also to the Reformed. They are all your sisters. And you are to learn something from them; and precisely what you yourself lack, that you are to learn from them. In that you are dependent on them. For this very purpose, indeed, poverty here and wealth there have been so ordered, that people should come together with one another. This produces commerce. And commerce makes brotherhood. Every sister has received her own talent. With it they are to trade profitably. And the others are to trade profitably with it in you and upon you as well. Do not hold yourself any longer so aloof from this exchange. Recognize your sisters' calling. Do not frustrate it by your quarreling and scolding against them. They may at times, against the Father's will, eat poisonous mushrooms instead of wheat bread, and, out of well-meaning love toward you, offer you those mushrooms as well—