# Der Lutheraner_St. Louis Missouri_1848 08 02_S209
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

I take my leave of you with the confidence that you will consider what serves your peace, and not let go the good part which, if we lay hold of it, shall remain ours forever. — Oh, whither, whither would this mischief of a false enlightenment, this unreason of an overweening reason, lead you, poor people, if you let yourselves be beguiled! You evangelical Zion, built by God, and, for all the frailties on the human side, yet standing noble and resplendent through the centuries, blessed with peace within your walls and with prosperity in your palaces, — what would become of you, if this counterfeit wisdom gained general acceptance among you! A second Jerusalem, as it was when Titus withdrew from the desolate place.

I have fought for the evangelical cause when it was attacked from another quarter, but I state my conviction openly, that the danger which threatens our dear church from the side of the Friends-of-Light movement is, in one respect, even greater than that other danger; I mean that you lose far more if you become Friends of Light than if you become Roman. Yet to this extent one may be more at ease, in that one may assume that very few will, for long, find taste and satisfaction in a thing so utterly without sap or strength, and that the vaunted glory of "light" will, after a brief flickering and crackling, have sunk into darkness and oblivion.

May the Lord grant this, He who will shield and save His church out of every distress. But it is the duty of His servants to carry on His work, to wage the wars of His kingdom, and to move against every height that rises up against the knowledge of Christ; therefore I have written this little tract, and think little of it if it provokes annoyance and brings reproach upon me. For I know too that I mean well toward those whose error I oppose, just as toward the people whom I warn against their ruinous doings.

Oh, would that they, if they truly wish to be friends of the light, and still otherwise believe that the primal source of light is on high, and still hold it possible that it opens itself to the prayer of the children of men, — would that they might once undertake to pray in real earnest that the true light might shine upon them; would that they might not cease to cry: Father of lights, enlighten me! I am convinced they would soon see another light, would no longer dishonor Holy Scripture, would no longer disturb the church of God; they would sink down at the feet of Jesus and say:

I believe in you, my Lord and God!
Yours am I, living and also dead.

Church Notice.

After Pastor F. W. Richmann, formerly stationed as an evangelical-Lutheran preacher in Fairfield County, Ohio, had accepted, with the concurrence of his previous congregations, a call extended to him on February 23 of this year to the German evangelical-Lutheran congregation of the unaltered Augsburg Confession at St. Peter's Church in Lancaster, Ohio, the latter congregations had been concerned to choose a successor to their beloved fellow-minister. Their attention having been drawn to a candidate of the holy preaching office, Mr. Paul Baumgart, until then a teacher at the school of the Lutheran congregation in Baltimore, he was first called by the St. Peter's congregation in Hocking County, Ohio, formerly served by Pastor Richmann, to be their pastor. Mr. Baumgart, not declining this call, thereupon applied to the Synod of Missouri with the request for ecclesiastical confirmation of his call. After he had accordingly been examined by the said body as to his doctrine, his knowledge, and his gifts, and had been found fit for the office offered him, holy ordination was thereupon administered to him, in the midst of his congregation, by Pastor Richmann, with the assistance of Pastor Seidel of Union County, Ohio, on the last third Sunday after Trinity, by commission of the President of the Synod. Thereupon the St. John's congregation, previously served by Pastor Richmann, as well as a third, newly formed and somewhat more distant congregation, likewise offered Pastor Baumgart the acceptance of their pastorate. The latter has, in God's name, consented to these requests as well. His place of residence is at present Logan.

May the Lord grant this new laborer in His vineyard grace, that he may be blameless in doctrine and life and walk in the full blessing of the sweet Gospel of grace in Christ Jesus, our Savior. Amen.

Address: Rev. P. Baumgart,
Logan, Hocking Co., Ohio.

Report on World Affairs.

The Synod has resolved that henceforth brief, summary reports on political world events shall regularly be included in the Lutheraner as well. In doing so it by no means intends to make the Lutheraner into a hybrid of political and church newspaper, but this is done solely with the intention of helping readers to take the right standpoint from which world events are to be viewed, and to guard them against placing themselves, in their judgment of these events, on a level with the unbelieving, godless world. Surely this resolution needs no justification before our readers, when they consider: 1) how emphatically the Lord admonishes us to heed the signs of the times; 2) how God's glorious government shines forth not only in His kingdom of grace but no less in the kingdom of the world; 3) how manifold are the effects of world events upon the church, which stands in the midst of the world and is surrounded by the world, both for good and for evil; 4) also how greatly it behooves Christians, at a time such as ours, when this doctrine is being utterly trampled underfoot both in the old world and the new, to impress deeply upon themselves the doctrine of Scripture concerning the divine order of civil authority; 5) the example of Holy Scripture, especially of the Old Testament.

Since we begin with this today, we wish first to give a brief overview of the time just past. Everyone knows what has happened (we are silent for now about other parts of the world) in Europe and in our old fatherland within only about the last half year — events which, though long prepared and in part foreseen, have nevertheless, through their violence and the simultaneity with which they spread over the most distant parts of Europe, set ears ringing. In February the revolution broke out in Paris, overthrew king and kingship, and proclaimed the republic. With lightning speed the fire spread over almost the whole continent of Europe and destroyed the pillars of all previous civil order down to their innermost foundation. Soon followed the bloody days in Berlin, which made one of the mightiest kings into a plaything of the people; the same thing happened almost simultaneously in the old imperial city of Vienna, in Bavaria, Saxony, Hanover, the two Hesses, and most of the small states of Germany. Remarkably, without any prior agreement, the demands of the unleashed people were everywhere the same: popular sovereignty, freedom of the press and of religion, separation of church from state, abolition of the standing armies, general arming of the people, and so on. On the side of the princes there was neither good fortune nor victory; they vied with one another in cringing compliance toward the imperious demands of the popular masses. The hated ministers had to flee and make way for men trusted by the people. All this happened within the space of a few weeks. Even England has not remained untouched by the spirit of revolution, and who knows what outcome the Irish disturbances will yet take. In Paris, after the republic has survived the crisis of the May and June days with terrible sacrifice of human life, it now appears calm for the time being under the protection of martial law. In Upper Italy the war continues with varying fortune between Austria and the rebellious Lombards, at whose head the King of Sardinia has placed himself. The Most Holy Father's children, having come of age, have grown beyond his control and do with him as they please. Sicily has, after a bloody struggle, made itself independent of Naples, and Naples itself stands on volcanic ground. How worthless royal crowns have now become is proven by the fact that the Grand Duke of Tuscany recently declined the crown of Sicily offered to his son. The rise of the liberal party in Germany brought about the war with Denmark; a three-month armistice was finally supposed to prepare