# Lehre und Wehre_St. Louis Missouri_Juni 1859_S191
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

Church and Contemporary History. 191

is free of the spirit of Torquemada. But if he were a local school inspector and found a teacher
who taught chiliastically, he would, according to his conscience, know nothing else to do
than to warn him, and if that did not help, to report him, however much it
might grieve him. And what should a higher church authority do if it had to decide
about ministers of the divine Word? It is easily demanded that one should let them alone;
but what if division and offense arise in the congregation as a result?"

Baptists in Europe. — Their total number at the beginning of the year 1859
amounts, in Germany, Denmark, and Switzerland, to 7,120 souls, of which 5,818 fall to
Germany, 1,176 to Denmark, and 126 to Switzerland. These are distributed
in Germany over 50 congregations with 569 branch stations, in Denmark over 11 congregations
with 73 branch stations. The net increase in membership in the year 1858 as against
the year 1857 shows: in Germany 497, in Denmark 126, in Switzerland 12 persons;
in all, 635. If we reckon by congregations, each congregation has on average gained 10
members; but if we count in the 649 stations as well, then each station
gains scarcely one member of increase. The success of the Baptist agitation stands, accordingly,
in no proportion to the effort expended. Given the great difficulties, they rely
on the cooperation of the Evangelical Alliance, through which they hope first to gain religious
freedom and then more popularity. Yet the question is whether this alliance
will not in the long run prove very harmful to them. All religious societies have strength
only so long as they apply their principles purely and decisively, without concordats.
The Evangelical Alliance, however, has, particularly in Germany, out of policy, acknowledged
the paralyzing indifferentism, the religious indifference, to a very great extent.
This may, in time, react back upon the Baptists all the more, since they
are not inaccessible to rationalistic influences. Their public conduct is already
now no longer what it was a few years ago. (N. Zeitblatt.)

Pastor Löhe. — The Pilger aus Sachsen remarks concerning him: "Löhe
himself wishes to be relieved of the burden of the pastoral office in his congregation and only
to oversee the institutions in a pastoral capacity, because the attacks of illness of the past year have
greatly weakened his strength, so that at present he is again unable to preach. And the
institutions already require a double strength for their supreme direction."

France. In the Dormstadt Church Gazette we read: There is a legislative proposal
before [the chambers], already sanctioned by the Council of State, according to which 1) no chapel or church
may be used by Protestants for purposes of worship without special permission of the highest authority,
even if they have rented or built it themselves; 2)
that no foreign Protestant may preach in France, which in future excludes
all Swiss and German theologians; and that 3) no Protestant congregation
in France may accept financial support from abroad.

The Papacy. — In the Darmstadt Church Gazette we find the apt remark:
"How matters stand with the unchangeableness of the papacy in the most recent times has
been repeatedly indicated in the reports about the developments within the Roman Church in France.
Concerning the far-reaching changes in the position and the procedure
of the papal power, a notable article appeared last year in the Revue
des Deux Mondes, written by Mr. Ernest Renan, the author of learned works on
Hebrew and other oriental languages. The one change makes itself felt namely in
the ever-growing striving of the pope to be unrestricted lord over the whole
extent of the Roman Catholic Church, to realize a direction of it
that would represent centralization at its utmost tension, similar to that founded
by the first Napoleon in France. Formerly the national churches possessed a certain independence,
a distinctly national character; there was a Gallican church, a German
church, and so on, each with its own particular institutions and customs. Differences of
tribe and people found a certain degree of consideration. The bishops, especially
the archbishops, metropolitans, and primates of every land, exercised such plenary authority
that they could, under certain circumstances, set limits not to be overstepped
to the orders of the Roman see, and the supreme pontiff, at least in more important
matters, ventured to decide nothing without having obtained their agreement, after due
consultation with them in proper order. Such was the canon law. Now, however, it is
strikingly different. The papal power gradually gathers all ecclesiastical powers into itself; it delivers
its judgment on the most important matters by its own determination alone. Thus, through Pius IX, a
new doctrinal definition, concerning the Immaculate Conception, has been established, without the deliberations
of a council. The same has occurred in other fundamental matters. Nationalities
are shamefully [illegible]. Bishops are becoming mere tools of the power proceeding
from the center [illegible]. The pope does, decides, and is everything..... Closely
connected with this [illegible] change is the other one noted by Mr. Renan:
the founding of the [illegible] press. In Paris, in Turin, in Madrid, in
Brussels, and other places, public papers appear that call themselves "Catholic." They