# Der Lutheraner_St. Louis Missouri_1850 01 08_S78
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

In the pages mentioned above it is said that a German Evangelical-Protestant congregation in and near Wapakonetta unfortunately has an Old Lutheran as its pastor, whose name has slipped the reporter's mind, and who, through his blind zeal for the cause of the Old Lutherans, is turning harmony into discord, in that he wishes to lead the congregation back to the standpoint of rigid Lutheranism, to which auricular confession also belongs, which he has already formally introduced. Those who did not want to go along with this ecclesiastical maneuver, he is said to have placed under interdict and denied the sacraments. Weak and dependent people, who intend to remain forever children in understanding, make it easy for such servants of darkness to play their game. The Father of lights, the unknown writer continues, may enlighten the congregation in which the aforesaid intruder is employed as preacher, that it may hold fast and true to the principles of the Evangelical-Protestant Church and, in accordance with its freedom, show the wolf in sheep's clothing the door. It should not let itself be deceived by the halo in which its pious confessor no doubt goes about. That this is often only a cloak for wickedness, the unnamed writer wishes to demonstrate by the example of the chief of the Old Lutherans, Stephan. He then, in closing, tells the story of the fallen Stephan.

When I read at the outset that my name had slipped the "reporter's" mind, I wondered how that could even be possible, since it consists of only four letters. But I was no longer surprised at this when I further found that the "reporter" had also forgotten that the Lutheran Church, or "Lutheranism," never had anything to do with "auricular confession." It is indeed most lamentable that no means is too base for the opponents of the truth, so long as they can thereby cast suspicion on the Church that rests upon it. Is the "reporter" a wholly ignorant person? Then he ought fairly to hold his tongue until he learns what belongs to "Lutheranism," and until he has at least read the twenty-fifth article of the Augsburg Confession, rather than slander what he knows nothing about. But if he knows this article and knowingly lies against the truth in order to lead others astray, then it stands only the more sadly with him; then he is indeed no longer a "child," but has already become a man — in wickedness. What he calls "auricular confession" is the orderly registration for the Holy Supper, which I have introduced in my congregations. This is, to be sure, a thorn in the eye to those who do not want to give up their favorite sins, and yet would like to go to the Holy Supper because they are simply accustomed to doing so. The "more discerning" have learned to understand that, as they are, they cannot be admitted by me to the table of the Lord; therefore they say that they have been "placed under interdict" — innocently, of course; for, as the "reporter" says, they do "worship God in spirit and in truth"; but it is clear that by this he does not mean a worshiping in faith. He means, like the editor of the "Protestantische Zeitblätter," the idol of the spirit of the age. The "reporter" talks at length, chiefly in order to make vivid to people how utterly I lack "love." I would like to ask him: is it love, and is it called "tolerance," to invent such things about a person one has perhaps never even seen? to falsely accuse him of having "smuggled himself into" the congregation; indeed, to call him an "intruder," a "blind zealot," a "wolf in sheep's clothing"? There one certainly searches for love in vain.

It seems as though the "reporter," in writing these words, thought himself that one might doubt his love of neighbor, of which he had just before spoken so full-mouthedly; and so he seeks, by the example of "the chief of the Old Lutherans," Stephan, to prove "that fanatical zeal for the faith is often only a cloak for wickedness." But should not the "reporter," who surely does not want to be the least of the "more discerning," know that the eleven disciples of the Lord were free of guilt when a Judas was found among them? We think that every "thinking believing Christian" should already bear this in mind. But he only wanted to reach his goal, namely, simply to say: behold, that is what the Old Lutherans are like. Yet he has carried out his purpose poorly. Listen to how forcefully he himself proves, by what follows, that his proof against the Old Lutherans proves nothing. He has heard or read that the place in Illinois where Stephan was put ashore is called "the devil's bake-oven"; about this he would have liked all too well to say a few more words; but how could this happen otherwise than by his telling the outcome of the affair? Having therefore related how Stephan's sin became manifest, he continues: "Thereupon he was deposed from his office at an assembly of the remaining preachers of the settlement, then brought by boat to the far bank of the Mississippi, and left there to his fate. Very tellingly, the place where he was put ashore is called the devil's bake-oven." What is he now saying by this other than that the Old Lutherans tolerate among themselves no one whose sin has become manifest to them and who is unwilling to repent, even if shortly before they had "deified" him? The honored reader of the "Lutheraner" also learns sufficiently from this that the enemies of the truth, like the wild waves of the sea, foam up nothing but their own shame. "When they speak lies, they speak of their own." But thank God that they can be recognized. We will confidently sing with the blessed Luther:

Let them go on lying still,
it profits them nothing;
we should rather thank God for this,
his word has come again:
summer stands hard by the door,
winter is past,
the tender little flowers come forth;
he who has begun this
will surely bring it to completion.

Paulus Heid.

We, the undersigned, hereby declare that our pastor, Rev. P. Heid: 1. did not "smuggle himself in" among us, but came to us in consequence of a regular call; 2. it is likewise false when it is said that he introduced "auricular confession"; 3. he "refuses" the Holy Supper only to those who manifest their unbelief through a godless life or persistence in godless doctrine and are unwilling to repent. Those who call us "children in understanding" because we intend to hold fast to the confession of our Church also say that we are "asserting a claim to the church property." Yet no one has ever tried to dispute their share of it, although it was precisely they who not only locked up the church but even nailed it shut, and who, when the children of the congregation were to be confirmed, could only be moved to open the church by the constable. Finally, we thank the "more discerning" once more for their admonition to "make use of our freedom"; accordingly we remind them that they have not yet learned the eighth commandment.

Georg Koch.
Georg Hofmann.
Christian Häussler.
Friederich Hüdepohl.
Lorenz Sammetinger.

Church council of the German Evangelical Lutheran St. John's congregation near Wapakonetta, Auglaize Co., Ohio.
December 17, 1849.

(Submitted by Pastor Schliepsieck.)

The Dedication of the Church at Centreville, St. Clair Co., Ill.

A glorious, joy-filled church dedication, which I recently attended in Centreville, prompts me to share something of this festival with my friends and brothers in the ministry. Very early in the morning (on Sunday, October 21) I drove, together with my dear wife, with a dear Christian farming family from my congregation, through woods and prairies toward that little town. Already we saw joyful guests hurrying in from every side on wagons and horses. Upon our arrival, Brother Schieferdecker was already holding the general confession with the communicants in the church. His joy was very great when, after the confession had been held, he caught sight of me in his house. He at once asked me to take over the afternoon