# Lehre und Wehre_St. Louis Missouri_December 1859_S380
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

380 Ecclesiastical Contemporary Affairs.

Switzerland is bound, in the first place, to grant to the Jews who are American citizens
the same rights as to other American citizens. This memorandum has not turned out to the
taste of the local Radicals, who therefore also cry murder over it as over a disgrace to the
Union — for the reason, namely, that Christian (and in part, admittedly, chiliastic) ideas
occur in it. It says, for example, in that memorandum, as follows: "Not only has a more
exact and more general knowledge of Holy Scripture led to the discovery that the whole
system of the persecution of the Jews is not only not commanded by Christianity, but that it
is one of the obstacles to the realization of the Christian system of redemption, which
comprises within itself the conversion of the Jews to Christianity. In the restrictive cantons
Baron Rothschild cannot acquire a single foot's breadth of land; while every atheist, on the
other hand, may buy whatever he pleases; and people going under the name of Christians,
who nevertheless publicly mock at all religion, are permitted to come in crowds and buy and
sell, and serve God wherever they wish, or serve no God at all. Are we then to draw from this
the conclusion that Christianity is a mistake, and that one might just as well be an Israelite
as a Christian? Far from it. The conclusion is that the great majority of persons who call
themselves Christians are not so in sufficient measure to justify the exclusion of the Israelites,
because they themselves are not Christians, and that, were they such, the Scripture in which
they believe would not permit them to exclude and oppress this people — because the
Israelites, according to Christianity, although they suffer their mysterious punishment in
exile, nevertheless remain God's chosen people and are destined to occupy an eminent rank
among the nations. When the undersigned considers how, in every land, under the name of
Christians, people of every degree of immorality enjoy civil rights — Rationalists, Pantheists,
Deists, Atheists, unbelievers in every revelation — and who in various ways violate both the
letter and the spirit of Jewish as well as Christian commandments, etc."

Rights of Congregation Members. In the "Conference of Friends and
Servants of the Lutheran Church of the Duchy of Brunswick," held on July 13 at Brunswick,
a discussion arose concerning the rights of the members of a congregation, particularly in
relation to their rationalist pastors. Pastor Guthe of Waldwirscho, the chairman, spoke:
"The purpose of preaching is to feed the Christian congregation, to give it the right food of
heaven, to build it up, upon the foundation laid by the Lord himself, into a dwelling place of
God in the Spirit — from which it follows that the congregation has a right to the preaching,
and a duty resulting from that right, namely to see to it that this right of theirs is not
diminished. He called upon the assembly, and especially the members of the congregation
present, to bear witness to this good right of theirs and to state whether and how they had
suffered under the pressure of an unsound and false proclamation of the Word."

Pastor Pessler then remarked, first, that this right must be exercised for the congregation
by the church government, whereupon Pastor Schwarss replied that the exercise of this right
in the proper manner was self-evident, but that this also required that individual members of
the congregation should come to the preacher and, in a becoming manner, appealing to
Scripture and the doctrine of the church, discuss the matter with him and express their
wishes and their desire, if the right food were not being given to them.

Assessor du Roi: The congregations have been asleep, have forgotten their right and the
word, "beware of false prophets," "watch" — and for that reason they have, as a punishment,
lost the right preaching. One should, indeed, now approach the false teacher with two
witnesses, but if it is difficult to find a second one, then one need not wait for that, but must
turn to the church government instead.

General Superintendent Dr. Kelbe agreed with what had already been said, that use of
this right of the congregation must be made in a respectful manner; there was always
something questionable when an individual member of the congregation wished to call the
preacher to account regarding doctrine — the final decision always belonged to the church
government.

Candidate Dr. phil. Kellner likewise warned against such steps on the part of individual
members of the congregation, because the standing of the ministerial office would easily be
endangered thereby.