Collection › LCMS Convention Proceedings (St. Louis, Missouri) › 1911 · 28th Convention, St. Louis, Nummer 1 › Page 203

LCMS Convention Proceedings St. Louis, Missouri — 1911, Page 203

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13. Delegatenſynode von Miſſouri, Ohio u. a. St. 1911. 203

Lehren — das war die Geſinnung, in der Walther alle ſeine Kämpfe
führte. Und ſo hat Walther durch Gottes Gnade die lutheriſche Kirche
in Amerika bewahrt vor Romanismus, Enthuſiasmus, Rationalismus,
Synergismus und Unionismus und, ſoviel an ihm war, ſie zum reinen,
unverfälſchten Luthertum zurückgeführt.

Gott allein die Ehre! Eben deshalb gedenken wir heute des
Lehrers, der vor andern uns das Wort Gottes geſagt hat. Ja, auch
Walther wollen wir es nicht vergeſſen, was Gott Großes durch ihn
getan hat. Die lutheriſchen Wahrheiten, die er uns gelehrt hat, wollen
wir treulich bewahren. Den Geiſt des Ernſtes in Lehre und Praxis,
den Walther mit Bezug auf dieſe Wahrheiten unſerer Synode einge⸗
haucht hat, wollen wir fleißig nähren und pflegen. Und zur unermüd⸗
lichen Nachfolge ſoll uns anſpornen Walthers Eifer in der Ausbreitung
dieſer Wahrheiten, die in ihrem Kerne ja nichts anderes ſind als das
uralte Evangelium, das allein arme Sünder ſelig machen kann, das
ewige Evangelium von dem „sola gratia, allein aus Gnaden“ und dem
„soli Deo gloria, Gott allein die Ehre“. Amen.

Prof. W. Daus Rede.

Twenty-four years ago this day those of us who could be present
gathered at the Seminary Chapel on Jefferson Ave. We came to
attend the English service at the bier of the man whose name is on
our lips to-day. Three days later our city witnessed the notable
spectacle of a vast funeral cortege made up of Lutherans from all
parts of our country, and from foreign countries. From old Trinity,
whose pulpit he had made to ring with his ardent testimony for the
truth that saves to the uttermost, we conducted the remains of the
weary pilgrim and servant of the Lord to his resting-place in Con-
cordia Cemetery. Bowed, but not broken, with the toil and the sorrow
of nearly fourscore years, — covered with the dust of many a well-
fought field, but decked with the victor's crown, — thus Carl Fer-
dinand Wilhelm Walther, Doctor of Divinity in the Evangelical
Lutheran Church of the Unaltered Augsburg Confession, had passed
from us to enter the upper sanctuary. Standing at his grave on that
sad day in May, 1887, we thought of his unflinching adherence to
every word of the Bible and of his unwavering trust in the saving
power of the Redeemer's blood; and we wished that divine grace
might give us to live such a useful life as he had lived, and to die
the death of this righteous man.

Twenty-four years in this hurly-burly world suffice in most in-
stances to obliterate in the memory of the next generation the name
of most men famous in their own day. I could pick out a score of
contemporaries of Walther, each of them a leader in his chosen pro-
fession, who are scarcely remembered to-day. It is a melancholy
reflection. The magnificent pageant of this world's greatness and

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13th Delegate Synod of Missouri, Ohio, and Other States, 1911. 203

with Lutheran doctrines — that was the spirit in which Walther
waged all his battles. And so Walther, by God's grace, preserved the
Lutheran Church in America from Romanism, Enthusiasm,
Rationalism, Synergism, and Unionism, and, so far as it lay with
him, led it back to pure, unadulterated Lutheranism.

To God alone the glory! It is precisely for this reason that we
remember today the teacher who, before others, spoke God's Word
to us. Yes, we, too, do not want to forget what great things God has
done through Walther. We want faithfully to preserve the Lutheran
truths he taught us. We want diligently to nourish and cultivate the
spirit of earnestness in doctrine and practice which Walther breathed
into our Synod with regard to these truths. And Walther's zeal in
spreading these truths — which at their core are nothing other than
the age-old Gospel, which alone can save poor sinners, the eternal
Gospel of "sola gratia, by grace alone" and "soli Deo gloria, to God
alone the glory" — shall spur us on to tireless emulation. Amen.

Prof. W. Dau's Address.

Twenty-four years ago this day those of us who could be present
gathered at the Seminary Chapel on Jefferson Ave. We came to
attend the English service at the bier of the man whose name is on
our lips to-day. Three days later our city witnessed the notable
spectacle of a vast funeral cortege made up of Lutherans from all
parts of our country, and from foreign countries. From old Trinity,
whose pulpit he had made to ring with his ardent testimony for the
truth that saves to the uttermost, we conducted the remains of the
weary pilgrim and servant of the Lord to his resting-place in Con-
cordia Cemetery. Bowed, but not broken, with the toil and the sorrow
of nearly fourscore years, — covered with the dust of many a well-
fought field, but decked with the victor's crown, — thus Carl Fer-
dinand Wilhelm Walther, Doctor of Divinity in the Evangelical
Lutheran Church of the Unaltered Augsburg Confession, had passed
from us to enter the upper sanctuary. Standing at his grave on that
sad day in May, 1887, we thought of his unflinching adherence to
every word of the Bible and of his unwavering trust in the saving
power of the Redeemer's blood; and we wished that divine grace
might give us to live such a useful life as he had lived, and to die
the death of this righteous man.

Twenty-four years in this hurly-burly world suffice in most in-
stances to obliterate in the memory of the next generation the name
of most men famous in their own day. I could pick out a score of
contemporaries of Walther, each of them a leader in his chosen pro-
fession, who are scarcely remembered to-day. It is a melancholy
reflection. The magnificent pageant of this world's greatness and