# Lehre und Wehre_St. Louis Missouri_Juni 1864_S183
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

The Epistles of St. Paul to Timothy and Titus, or the Apostolic Pastorale. 183

...guidance of the Apostle enlightened by the Holy Spirit, to find his bearings for and in all manner of situations in his official conduct, and to have the right word in the right place.

But it is a common experience that precisely those ministers of the Word who have a particularly tender conscience, sharpened by the Holy Spirit through his Word, and who attend to their office in great fear of God, are also especially burdened by the weight and responsibility of it, go about under much grief and sighing, and live in constant anxiety as to whether they may not, in the end, through their natural clumsiness, stand here and there in the way, hindering the Lord's work upon the souls of their parishioners. And even though they are certain that they publicly preach the pure Word of God and administer the sacraments according to the Gospel, they are nevertheless, in many respects, troubled and distressed with regard to private pastoral care and the guidance of the congregation. They are afraid of themselves, lest, according to the perversity of their old Adam, they do now too much, now too little in the matter; lest, through hasty impatience and untimely zeal, they drive the congregation toward something for which it is not yet inwardly ready; or lest, through fear of man, or sloth, or carelessness, they neglect and leave something undone among their parishioners. In sum, they feel, especially when they are by nature of a melancholy temperament, more the pressure and burden of their so highly responsible office and calling, than that they, even under manifold official crosses, should walk cheerfully by faith in him who was crucified and raised also for them, and through the power of his resurrection, and should at all times take good comfort in the divinity of their calling as ambassadors in Christ's stead and as fellow-helpers and fellow-workers of the Holy Spirit.

It will therefore not be unhelpful, chiefly for the love and comfort of these dear brethren in office, but also for the profit and benefit of all, and as it were by way of introduction to the consideration of the pastoral epistles, to cite some passages from Luther's writings which treat of the dignity and glory of the holy preaching office before God.

Thus our dear teacher and father in Christ writes, among other things: "A godly pastor or preacher is God's messenger and steward over his mysteries, Christ's servant, a savior of many people, a king and prince in Christ's kingdom, a light of the world, and a precious, noble treasure," etc. This the holy divine Scripture testifies, as in Isaiah 52:7 the Lord GOD himself says: How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who preach good things, who proclaim salvation. The Lord Christ himself, Luke 10:16: He who hears you hears me. St. Paul, 1 Corinthians 4:1: Let a man so account of us, as of the ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God. And 2 Corinthians 5:20: Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us."

Likewise in the sermon "that children should be kept at school:" "You may rejoice from your heart and be glad, if you find yourself to be one whom God has chosen for this, that with your goods and labor you should