# Lehre und Wehre_St. Louis Missouri_Juli 1864_S221
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

Church and Contemporary Affairs. 221

remains ever true to its Creator." By this report, adopted by a vote of 208 to
8, "all persons occupying the relation of a Master [Freemason] are to be
excluded from the church." If the relation of Master is a public sin for the
sake of which exclusion from the church must be carried out, why has the
Methodist Church not acknowledged and asserted this truth long before now?
Are truth and religion a weathervane that turns whichever way the wind
blows?! B.

The General Synod has, in its sessions, once again let loose American-
Lutheran, bravely patriotic, most-obediently loyal, paper resolutions. One of
them reads as follows: "Resolved, that, since strenuous attempts are being made
among us by such writers — who are Christians by profession — to prove from
Holy Scripture the divine institution of American slavery, the chief cause of
this godless rebellion, we, the delegates of the General Synod of the
Evangelical Lutheran Church of the United States, hereby pronounce our
unconditional sentence of condemnation upon any such tendency, which
claims the sanction of the merciful God and Father of us all for a system of
human oppression that exists only through violence and under the cloak of
infamous laws." — There was a time when it would have been a sign of
courage, patriotism, and true brotherly love if such resolutions had been
offered in the sessions of the General Synod, namely before the Civil War,
when the southern Lutherans were still members of the General Synod. Then
the members of the General Synod could have instructed, corrected, and won
their southern brethren over to the truth, and freed them from the bonds of
this "most horrible of all sins," "this abomination of all abominations," and
could have saved the souls of their brethren. But General-Synod love did not
go that far. Do the General-Synodists perhaps suppose that their punishing
love will now make a deep impression on the hearts of the seceded "brethren"?
— Then would have been the place for glowing patriotism, which might
perhaps have spared the unhappy land the war, if the "great, mighty,
influential" General Synod of the evang. luth. church of the United States had
brought the church of the South around to its opinion, and had thus helped
remove the "principal cause of this wicked rebellion." But general-synodical
patriotism did not go that far; that patriotism might have split the General
Synod, and patriotism back then was not worth that much. But now that the
synod is split, and the opportunity to help the state by influencing the southern
preachers has been missed, now patriotism comes along and puffs itself up. —
Then it would have taken courage to pronounce its "unqualified condemnation,"
which might also have made an impression on the Southerners and could thus
have been of use. But back then, bravery was quiet as a mouse; courage had
cautiously drawn back inward and, at most, made a fist in its pocket. Now,
when such a resolution reaps general applause, when there is nothing to risk,
indeed when one even has the "provost marshal" protectively at one's back,
now one plays at patriotism and stupendous courage as well. — B.

Union. A correspondent of the "Didaskalia" (a paper for "Spirit, Sentiment,
and Publicity"!!) reports the following from Worms, under date of March 21,
1864: "Today the earthly remains of the 79-year-old Rabbi Bamberger were
carried to the grave. The funeral procession consisted of 1,500 persons, drawn
from the members of every confession. The local officer corps was very
numerously represented; nor were the Protestant and Catholic clergymen
absent. — The day before yesterday the burial of the Protestant dean Wagner
took place. His funeral cortege was likewise very numerous. Behind the hearse
one saw, united with the Protestant pastors, also the entire body of Catholic
clergy, as well as the Jewish preachers. — Last week City Councilman Baas
was buried. After a Protestant pastor had delivered a graveside address, a Jew,
Mr. Wolfskehl, also spoke, in a beautiful and moving manner." What sort of
"Christians" are there now in the world, who even let Christ-hating Jews
deliver funeral orations for them "in a beautiful and moving manner"? B.