# Lehre und Wehre_St. Louis Missouri_Mai 1864_S158
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

158 Church-Contemporary Affairs.

petition that is drawn off by unionist and Reformed clergy. These may be at
least 100–110. The vote of the Unionists and Reformed naturally carries no
weight for the Lutheran Church. — That the whole political and ecclesiastical
democracy cheers the petition is a testimony to the spirit it ultimately
serves, and should call upon the signers to weigh their step seriously. So
the two armies stand armed opposite one another. Whether and when it will
come to a serious struggle must be awaited. A second churchly question that
stirs our people's minds very much is the ever more aggressive conduct of
the Gustav-Adolf-Verein. The Society is being more and more misused by
individual members to promote the Union, just as, in general, everything
among us presses with force toward this goal under the constant, energetic
resistance of the Lutherans. For years now, at the festivals of the G. A.
Society, those who for good reasons have not joined the Society have been
attacked on that account. Nevertheless, quite a number of Lutheran clergy,
in the hope of thereby being able to guide the Society into more correct
paths, have remained members of it. But through those unwarranted attacks,
and especially through the fact that several festival speakers have of late
made outright propaganda for the Union, remaining in the Society has been
made ever harder for many of them, and some have already declared their
withdrawal. This, on the other hand, has only heightened the bitterness. If
we do not deceive ourselves, the "spirit of the age" will take hold of this
Society more and more as time goes on. Its festivals have already for some
time made themselves noticeable by their worldly tinge, and last year one
saw at these church festivals the whole apparatus that one is otherwise
accustomed to see only at the marksmen's, gymnasts', and singers' festivals
of our day. Banners, gymnasts, regimental music, festive dinners with
toasts, and so forth, played a prominent role in it. The serious members of
the Society certainly do not approve of such things, but they cannot
prevent them. The end can only be that all these better elements withdraw,
if the Society's leaders do not succeed in steering it onto more serious
paths. — In our country, too, this matter contributes very much to the
fragmentation of the church and sharpens the oppositions that already
exist. Our honest name is still withheld from us. We must call our parishes
simply "evangelical," just as the Reformed and the Unionists do. Only where
congregations of different confessions are situated together in one place
is the distinguishing epithet "Lutheran" and "Reformed" or "Unionist"
permitted. However insignificant it may seem in itself that we are refused
the predicate "Evangelical Lutheran" for the pastoral office — as pastors
we bear it unchallenged — only the office itself must officially be called
simply "evangelical" — yet it becomes all the more significant in
connection with the remaining phenomena. Again and again, the Lutheran
Church of our country stands under a consistory which, since the death of
the Lutheran court preacher, counts not a single member of our confession
among its councilors; rather, all the councilors, as members of the
unionist court congregation, are thoroughly to be regarded as unionist. And
yet at least two-thirds of the Evangelicals of the country belong to the
Lutheran Church. Likewise, not one of the professors of the preachers'
seminary stands entirely on the confession of the Lutheran Church, and how
the regular professorships of the theological faculty at Giessen are
staffed is sufficiently well known everywhere. Again and again, Lutheran
pastoral positions are filled with unionist-minded pastors. The refusal of
Lutheran candidates for the pastoral office to allow themselves to be
employed in unionist, let alone Reformed, parishes is, incidentally, taken
into account, and occurs not infrequently. The ambiguous ordination formula
attempts to make this state of affairs lawful; but a number of patrons, as
well as a whole series of Lutheran pastors, have entered a decided legal
protest against it. Our teachers are trained in the seminary without regard
to confession, and are likewise so employed, which has already several
times led to serious conflicts. The old Baden catechism, which has been put
out of use by an unambiguous decree of the church authorities, is
nevertheless still used in many congregations and has again been newly
reprinted and circulated.

Refusal of a Christian Burial. In a report on the second district synod
at Samter, Grand Duchy of Posen, it says, among other things: At last year's