# Der Lutheraner_St. Louis Missouri_1845 05 31_S80
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

In me and in my life
There is nothing on this earth of worth:
What Christ has given me,
That alone is worthy of love.

To this, perhaps, Mr. N. will repeat the reproach he made against us in his pamphlet: but you had not yet publicly confessed your sins and errors! (p. 3.) To this we must answer that Mr. N. is mistaken. We believe that there are few who have gone astray who have confessed their aberrations so openly and so completely before the whole world as we have. My late brother gave to the public a penitential sermon preached here, in which our entire fall was faithfully and unreservedly set forth; it was not only printed separately, but was also circulated in periodicals throughout all of Germany, at a time when Mr. N. himself was in Germany. Pastor Keyl has, in the same twofold manner, circulated his own extensive tract, in which our deviations in doctrine and life were set forth with the most humble confessions. Pastor Löber had a systematic account of the errors in which we were formerly entangled circulated in America and in Germany, an account signed by me and by most of the other pastors involved as our common confession. Pastor Brohm did the same, in that he had a historical account of our fall and our recovery inserted into the Pittsburgh Lutheran Church paper. In the local "Anzeiger des Westens," the congregation here, together with me, made public, somewhat more than two years ago, a brief confession before their fellow citizens of their former defection from the Lutheran Church, and called upon everyone to satisfy himself whether we now honestly strive after the high goal set for us in the Lutheran Church. Finally, the editor of the Lutheraner has, quite particularly, spoken privately with Mr. N. himself about our fall, in the most humble avowals; Mr. N. himself comforted us at that time, and assured us that he had testified to our turning back while in Germany, and that he had represented us as best he could to all who were Christian-minded. In view of this we ask our readers with what right Mr. N. can now reproach us that we have not yet publicly confessed our sins, and that we therefore have no claim to be treated by Christians as those whose sins are forgiven and covered by the blood of Christ!

Indeed, says Mr. Nollau, "it would surely have been more wholesome … if our opponent, instead of now branding and making war upon other church parties, had rendered a humble confession in his paper of the errors of an earlier time." We answer that we certainly do not doubt that it would have been far more agreeable and delightful to Mr. N. to see confessions of our sins in every issue of the Lutheraner, rather than a critique of the statutes of the local Evangelical Association; then perhaps we would not have had so ungracious a judge. But in the first place, it is not the purpose of our paper

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to give notice of our own persons; and further, we ask: can a man who truly confesses from his heart the doctrine of the justification of the sinner by faith demand that the fallen should never cease confessing their sins — indeed, that they should do nothing else but forever appear before the world and before Christendom with laments and sighs over their fall? We answer: No. One who is justified should indeed never forget his sin, and still less should he seek to cover it over again or retract his confession of sin; but he should also, to the honor of the Friend of sinners, at last openly confess: "Mercy has been shown to me" — and only the self-righteous, who do not truly believe that there really is forgiveness in Christendom, can take offense at this.

It is indeed true that we, who ourselves once lay in many dangerous errors, have taken it upon ourselves now to rebuke the errors of others: this Mr. N. now regards as a sign of our impenitence and of a lack of thorough humbling of our hearts. But has he then not read what Christ says to Peter, when he foretells his fall: "When thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren" (Luke 22:32)? Has Mr. N. not read what David says in Psalm 51, where he confesses his fall: "Restore unto me the joy [of thy salvation] …, for I will teach transgressors thy ways, and sinners shall be converted unto thee"? What becomes of the doctrine of justification, which Mr. N. boasts of holding so firmly, when he rebukes those who have fallen and, by God's grace, risen again, for seeking, to the best of their ability, to defend the truth to which God has brought them back, and to combat the error opposed to it? Does this not belong, according to Mr. N.'s own order of salvation, among the fruits of repentance — especially when one formerly helped to spread that very error?

According to Mr. N.'s notion of Christian church discipline, it seems that the fallen, even when he repents, can never again be granted seat and vote in the Christian congregation; he seems to wish to condemn him to eternal silence, and to allow him nothing but confessions of sin. But where, once again, is the doctrine of justification here? If Mr. N. wishes to be consistent (logically coherent), he must agree with the unbelievers in refusing to acknowledge any saint of whom it is also reported that he once fell; indeed, Mr. N. must necessarily be troubled by the conversion and the humbling that took place in a David, a Peter, a Saul, and others, who also had fallen deeply, and who nevertheless, after their repentance, joyfully confessed the truth again and freely rebuked error. Oh, how far astray Mr. N. has gone, in feeling himself insulted by our declaration that we regard his Evangelical Church as one in error! It is, moreover, not unclear from all this — and it will become perfectly plain to every reader as we proceed — that Mr. N. believes our repentance would have to consist in our giving up our rigid adherence to Lutheran doctrine. But God has, in his grace, preserved us from such a repentance, to which Satan has strongly tempted us.

Before we conclude our answer to the attacks upon our personal character, we have only one further thing to correct. Mr. Nollau boldly states on p. 21: "The notorious 'Declaration of Submission' was signed by all the adults, men and women alike." Our opponent here gives sad proof that, in his eagerness to bring us and our congregation — which he himself calls "estimable" (p. 5) — to shame before the whole world, he was not seriously concerned with whether he was reporting nothing but the full truth: for we can prove with witnesses that, for example, we ourselves — I, and the second pastor employed at our congregation — did not sign that Declaration of Submission; and I, for my part, did not do so for the simple reason that I myself had already at that time lost full confidence in Stephan.

In the next issue we intend, God willing, to take up the most important matter at hand, namely the doctrines in dispute between us.

(To be continued.)

Luther's Defiance.

In sum, my doctrine is the chief article on which I take my stand in defiance, not only against princes and kings, but also against all devils; and indeed I have nothing else left that sustains my heart, strengthens it, makes it glad, and makes it, the longer the more, defiant. As for the other matter — my life and personal conduct — I know well enough myself that it is sinful and affords no ground for defiance: I am a poor sinner, and I let my enemies be nothing but saints and angels. Good for them, if they can keep it up. Not that I wish to be such before the world and the unbelievers, but before God and his dear Christians. Before the world, too, I wish to be godly, and am so, to such a degree that they are not worthy to untie my shoelaces; nor shall they be able to show me, with any truth, that I have lived or acted too closely against anyone before the world — though I could well show them such things about themselves. In short, I am too humble for no one, and too proud for no one, just as St. Paul says: "I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound." Philippians 2:3 [sic]. For the sake of my doctrine, I am, toward the devil, the emperor, king, princes, and all the world, far, far, far too proud, stiff, and haughty; but for the sake of my life, I am humble and subject even to every child. Whoever did not know this, let him hear it now. Luther, in: Answer to the Slanderous Writing of the King of England. Works, Halle edition, XIX, 510–11.

The Lutheraner may always be obtained at the residence of the carrier, Mr. Gräber (South Fifth Street, opposite the oil mill), also from Mr. Quast (Olive Street, between Second and Third, below the theater), and from the editor.

Printed by Weber and Olshausen.