# Der Lutheraner_St. Louis Missouri_1845 03 22_S59
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

...troubled face, and in his long, plain hair hanging down over the cloak slung across one shoulder, had given everyone the impression that this man must stand in the greatest self-denial — while perhaps many of the honest confessors of the truth possessed no especially distinguished gifts of understanding or eloquence, and in their lives, through their unwavering confession, were repugnant and irksome to all lukewarm, indifferent, and worldly-minded souls. Indeed, even then the defense of the truth suffered considerable harm through a certain impure zeal and unseemly appearance that unfortunately mixed itself in — though the truth itself always remained the truth.

If, then, on the one hand, no small offense was sometimes given, so that the spreading heresy and division was not always resisted in the right way, then, on the other hand, there was, third, also this: that Arius and his followers tried every means by which they might possibly enlarge their party. For this they traveled far and wide, scattering their evil seed not only in secret assemblies and cunning persuasions, but even by all manner of songs, which they distributed among sailors, travelers, and laborers. Still more, they sought through spiteful slander to make the teachers of the true Church suspect everywhere, and thereafter shrank from no deceit, no bribery, no lie — indeed, no false oath — merely to attain their purpose.

That we do not say too much in this is proved most sorrowfully by the entire history of the Arian controversies, which we of course cannot treat here in greater detail; and so, here too, the important truth was confirmed once again — that anyone who merely kept his eyes open could recognize the evil tree by its fruits, despite every deceptive appearance.

After the dispute had been carried on with violence for several years — so much so that even the heathen mocked it on their stages — the old but tireless bishop Alexander turned ever more urgently to the other most respected bishops of the entire East, exhorting them by letter to take heed with him against the evil that was gaining the upper hand, for their own sake and for that of the flock of Christ. Most of the bishops did side with him, while others fell away again, in part, to Arius. Eusebius of Nicomedia, however, the most zealous friend and defender of Arius, together with other bishops of like mind, sought to settle the matter amicably and to persuade Alexander to receive Arius back. The emperor likewise attempted the same once more, sending Bishop Hosius of Cordoba to Alexandria to mediate the whole dispute and bring it to a peaceful end.

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But because Arius would not abandon his errors, and Alexander could by no means bring himself, in conscience, to purchase church peace by denying divine truth and to establish a union with the erring and the false believers, the patchwork of human mediation was bound, again and again, to tear apart against this man's steadfast confession, and to come to nothing.

Although the confusion thereby grew once again greater than before, the emperor himself nevertheless saw ever more clearly that there was a deep earnestness in this matter, and that it truly concerned higher goods than mere outward calm and unity. He therefore wished to see this calm and unity established henceforth by no other way than through a free, public, and mutual understanding drawn from God's Word. And so he resolved to summon the whole Church of the East and the West, represented by its bishops, to a great general church council — a matter indeed worthy and important enough that we ought to consider it, in a few strokes, in the following section.

(Continued in the next installment.)

(Submitted by Pastor Schieferdecker.)
A Call to Lutherans Who Have Joined Other Churches.

Every day we see how more and more of our Lutheran brethren in the faith are estranged from us through the harmful influence of sectarianism, and torn away entirely from the fellowship of the Lutheran Church. Who could blame us if love for such people compels us to lay a word upon their conscience — to remind them of the vow they made to their Church at their baptism and confirmation; to ask them what has moved them to break this holy vow, and to set before them the danger into which they plunge themselves by thoughtlessly turning from truth to error? How could such a word be held against us, when the holy apostle calls to us: "Brethren, if any of you err from the truth, and one convert him, let him know that he who converts a sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall cover a multitude of sins." (James 5:19–20.)

For the sake of this apostolic exhortation we call out to our fallen brethren in the faith: Do you not know that you were raised in a church built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Jesus Christ himself as the cornerstone? in a church that can be recognized as the true Church of Jesus Christ by this, that it has preserved his Word and his Sacraments pure and unadulterated? in a church whose doctrine, through God's great instrument Dr. M. Luther, has been cleansed of all the leaven of human ordinances and restored to its apostolic purity? in a church that your fathers loved so deeply and heartily that they would rather have died than forsake it? — In such a church you were born and raised! You ought therefore to have recognized God's great mercy toward you, who prepared the way to the truth for you already through your birth and early upbringing — and yet you have fallen away from it?

Remember your own vow — how solemnly, at your confirmation, you promised to remain faithful to this Church and to confess the pure evangelical truth even unto death! Do you not yourselves consider a person dishonorable and unscrupulous who breaks what he has solemnly promised? Now you made that vow not to men, but to God himself — to Christ, your Redeemer. Should you not be alarmed at having broken what you yourselves promised to Jesus Christ with a holy vow? But perhaps you say: at that time we did not yet understand how much such a vow meant. Well, suppose you did not yet understand it then — you must certainly understand it now. Nor does the excuse hold if you say: we did not then rightly understand what we vowed, and therefore did not feel obliged to keep it. For know this: if what we vow is a sinful thing and plainly contrary to the Word of God, then any such vow is null and void, however solemnly and dearly it was made; but if it is a holy and right thing, in accordance with the Word and will of God, then the vow must be kept, even if one did not, beforehand, rightly understand what one vowed. According to this principle, for example, the vow made to the Roman Catholic Church is null and void, for it is against God and displeasing to him, because in that church the vow is made to a false doctrine. Here the vow must be broken for God's sake, for it is a rope that holds poor consciences captive in error. But it is otherwise with the Lutheran Church; here the vow must be kept, whether one made it knowingly or unknowingly, because it is a vow to pure doctrine, to the true Gospel of Christ. Therefore, though the sin of those who have broken their vow is not always a knowing, deliberate unfaithfulness, it is nevertheless thoughtlessness or blindness.

But since it is fair to hear a person's own account before condemning him, we ask you, dear brethren: what, then, has moved you to break your vow, to leave the Lutheran Church, and to join some sect or other — the New Evangelicals, the Methodists, or the like? What has moved you to this? Some, no doubt, will say: we found more in other churches than in the Lutheran Church; we were in the Lutheran Church long enough, and yet always heard only false doctrine; we saw, for the most part, a wicked, offensive life among the Lutherans. We found in the Lutheran Church no preacher who earnestly...