# Der Lutheraner_St. Louis Missouri_1845 06 18_S84
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

ble" of erroneous human thoughts (1 Corinthians 3:11–15), so that even the Church must daily pray: "Forgive us our trespasses"; but these errors of hers are of such a nature that they not only do not overthrow the foundation, but also are not stubbornly held to; as we see, for example, in the beloved apostles, who often erred, but were always willing and ready to be corrected. For where errors are not only preached but also stubbornly maintained, there is not Christ's Church; there it is not the true Church but the false church, or a sect, that becomes visible. "He that is of God," says Christ, "heareth God's words: ye therefore hear them not, because ye are not of God. My sheep hear my voice. He that is of the truth heareth my voice." John 8:47; 10:27; 18:37. And John testifies: "Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God." 2 John 9; compare Titus 3:10–11. Therefore the blessed Luther writes: "By what else should one distinguish which is the right Church of Christ and which the church of the devil, except by obedience and disobedience toward Christ; especially when the disobedience is openly recognized and understood, and yet is impudently and shamelessly excused and insists on being right. For the holy Church does indeed sin and stumble or err also, as the Lord's Prayer teaches; but she does not defend or excuse herself, but humbly begs for forgiveness, and amends herself as best she can: then it is forgiven her, so that her sin is then no longer reckoned as sin. If, now, I am not to recognize and distinguish the right Church from the false one by obedience and obstinate disobedience, then I no longer know how to speak of any church at all." (Letter concerning the book on the private mass. W. H. XIX, 1579.) In another place Luther further says: "As St. Augustine says of himself: Errare potero, haereticus non ero: I may err, but I will not become a heretic. The reason is: heretics do not merely err, but refuse to be corrected, defend their error as right, and fight against acknowledged truth and against their own conscience. Of such St. Paul says, Titus 3:10–11: A heretic thou shalt avoid, when he has been admonished once or twice, and thou shalt know that such a one is perverted and sinneth, being self-condemned (autocatacritos), that is, he willfully and knowingly wishes to remain condemned in error. But St. Augustine gladly confesses his error and lets himself be corrected. Therefore he cannot be a heretic, even though he erred. So do all the other saints also, gladly giving up their hay, straw, and wood into the fire, so that they may remain upon the foundation of salvation. As we too have done and still do." (Of Councils and Churches. W. H. XVI, 2664.) Finally Luther says: "They do not distinguish between erring and remaining in error. Erring does no harm to the Church, but remaining in error is impossible; as Christ says, Matthew 24:23, that even the elect

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would be led into error, were it possible." (Of the private mass. W. XIX, 1515.)

Let us now once more gather together what has been said: the Church, then, is the one people of God spread over the whole face of the earth, the assembly of all believing souls sanctified by the Holy Spirit, who for the most part remain wholly hidden from the eyes of men and are known to God alone, but who nevertheless also become manifest before men wherever God's Word is preached in its purity and the holy Sacraments are administered according to Christ's institution. This is the one and only Church we know, of which we have hitherto spoken in our paper, and for which we intend to fight; and if we wish to be Lutherans, we wish, by this name, to confess ourselves to no special party, nor to any other, but precisely to this one, universal (catholic), Christian, and apostolic Church, just as Luther and all his faithful followers have done. Now although the whole crowd of those called and baptized is indeed also called the Church, and although one further speaks of national churches, territorial churches, particular churches, and the like, this happens only in an improper sense, and only because within these visible crowds the Church of Christ lies hidden, because the elect are to be found only among the called. Even heretics, who obstinately err and stubbornly contest important truths contained in Holy Scripture, do indeed stand outwardly in fellowship with the Church, but they, together with their followers, are not on that account the Church; although even among the crowds that the heretics have drawn to themselves there lie hidden members of the Church who hold fast to the truth in their hearts — who either testify against the error within it, or, from weakness of understanding, fail to see through their false prophets, being outwardly held captive by the faction or sect, but standing in their hearts in fellowship with the true Church. —

Let this suffice for this time. We commend this brief exposition to the most careful consideration of our readers; for only when one holds firmly to these few simple propositions drawn from the Bible, and abandons all other conceptions of the Church that shift or overturn these propositions (even should one perhaps have obtained them from so-called Lutheran books), only then will one arrive at a sound doctrine on this article and at a clear insight into its connection with the whole structure of Christian doctrine, and be able rightly to judge the various phenomena within Christendom. Let the reader not be reluctant to take the dear Bible in hand and compare the picture of the Church given above by us with the pattern (model) of wholesome doctrine; then, if he believes the Bible, he will not be able to withhold his assent, and will also certainly perceive, as we have, with joyful surprise, that the biblical doctrine of the Church is reproduced in the symbolical books of the Lutheran Church — especially in the Augsburg Confession and its Apology — in the purest, most genuine, truest, and most faithful manner, with nothing sectarian whatsoever mixed into it. The Christian reader will find, upon his comparison, that Mr. Nollau did not base his doctrine of the Church upon the Bible, but rather shaped his doctrine according to how he believed he saw the Church with his own eyes; instead of, conversely, testing and judging what he saw by the Word of God. To human reason it is indeed more plausible and acceptable to proceed, as Mr. Nollau does, on the principle: "We must consider the Church not as it ought to be, but as it is." (p. 27.) But if, following Mr. N., we are no longer to judge the Church according to what it ought to be according to the Bible, but according to what it happens to be according to our own thoughts, then we truly do not know what, according to Mr. N.'s thinking, the Bible is even for.

For lack of space, however, we must refer our readers in this issue to the next, where we shall apply the standard of Holy Scripture to Mr. N.'s stated opinions.

(To be continued.)

One's Own Conceit in [Interpreting] Scripture.

With certain strong sayings one must catch the heretics, otherwise they slip away from us and dart off, as fish slip through a net. It is a slippery thing about heretics; one can scarcely hold them, and they are reckless in handling divine Scripture. This all comes about because they carry their own private opinion into Scripture, and Scripture must be made to conform, bend, and be steered according to their own head and understanding. Wherefore we should hear God's Word with fear, and deal with it in humility, and not go crashing into it with our own private opinion. You would do better to fall into every sin than into your own conceit, so dangerous and harmful a thing is it. For God's Word is not to be trifled with. If you cannot understand it, take your hat off before it. It endures no mockery, nor any human twisting; but it is wholly in earnest there, and wants to be honored and treated as such. Therefore take great care that you do not fall into it with your own conceit. Once this plague has taken root, let the devil ride it out — not I. Therefore St. Paul says well to Titus, 3:10: "A man that is a heretic, after the first and second admonition, avoid; and know that such a one is subverted, and sinneth, being condemned of himself." Wherefore beware of sects. It is easy to fall into them, but hard to get out again. Believe me, you cannot get out again as easily as you got in. — Luther, on [Psalm] 23:5–8.

Contempt for the Laity (Non-Priests) in the Papist Church.

In the year 1662 there appeared at Würzburg, in a second edition, a book under the (Latin) title: "The Sanctuary Closed to All Laymen, or a Treatise on the Prohibition of Holy Scripture in the Vernacular or Mother Tongue, by Nicolaus le Maire, a French councilor and almoner." The author was a zealous papist; his book therefore bore the following title-page engraving: a magnificent temple, out of which a dog-whipper is driving the dogs; the caption reads: "Out with the dogs!" (Foras canes!) — Behold, you poor laymen, this is how you are regarded by your priests; that is why they forbid you to read the Bible. So it sounds when a man like le Maire blabs and shows the hand of cards held by your spiritual fathers.

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