# Der Lutheraner_St. Louis Missouri_1850 11 12_S44
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

44

right in the Church, which will probably not easily be taken from it again. But it seems that the hymn-verses quoted here sounded once more too old-fashioned, and indeed superstitious, to the gentlemen editors of the Pennsylvania book, since the old author of this hymn represents to these gentlemen the devil's work and tyranny as far too dangerous. — Or did the last verse especially strike them as too "Methodistic"? though the poet means thereby nothing other than the "spiritual joy" in the heart, for of "Methodistic" stamping, raving and raging they knew nothing at that time; the Methodistic "conversion machines" had not yet been invented, and the "madness of the anxious bench" was not yet thought of at that time. — Nevertheless there are in the "new Pennsylvania" book a considerable number of falsely Pietistic hymns from Germany, as also Methodistic ones composed in America, as is easily found, and could be shown by anyone without great trouble; what is said here can offend no one, for it stands at the close of the preface of this hymn-book: S. S. Sch. etc. etc. — In the said preface it is indeed stated that the editors had the intention "to take nothing good that is old, only to give good that is new;" — but how the promise has been kept the many old, excellent, but here altered and abbreviated hymns give sufficient proof; it is precisely the reverse; much good that is old is taken, much bad that is new is given in its place; a bad swop (exchange).

In this one must indeed praise the "Lutheran St. Louis Hymn-Book," for in it the old, sturdy church hymns have been kept unaltered, unmutilated, and entirely as they came from the hands of the old poets; and the St. Louis congregation has indeed done a great thing — for which a thousand Christian hearts are thankful, and without doubt will yet be thankful in heaven — in that it has remedied the great "hymn-book distress." — May the God of all grace let his rich blessing rest also henceforth upon the said congregation, and preserve its youthful strength in the fairest and purest virginal bloom, that its light may shine from the west to the east, north and south. — For apart from the glorious content of the most excellent church hymns, the St. Louis hymn-book is also to be highly praised because it is printed in such fine, clear, large type, which is especially delightful for old people; and it reminds me quite vividly of my dear old mother, who also always used an old hymn-book printed in large letters, read from it, and sang with me when I was still a little boy; for which I shall surely thank my dear mother yet in eternity. When I came, to be sure, to fuller understanding — meant to say, lack of understanding, I thought also, and said to my mother, that our "new hymn-book," which was at that time introduced in our region, was better — improved — (but alas it was worsened); at such remarks my mother always looked at me sadly and troubled and had to heave one sigh after another; often she would take her spectacles, and look a little around in the new book, but soon she would lay it aside again, shaking her head, and would use her old hymn-book only the more diligently; at times she would also begin to complain and lament aloud about me, that I, a young lad, wished to be wiser with my "new hymn-book" than the old folk with their old hymn-books. — Yet God be thanked and praised that I have now again stepped into the footsteps of my dear old mother and can now join with her in the glorious old hymns and refresh myself with them. O that all Christian mothers would seek to acquaint their little children early with the glorious old sturdy church hymns! for it is a seed which can never again be wholly rooted out. Yes, may mothers especially in this country, where circumstances are often of such a kind that the upbringing of the children depends more on the mothers than on the fathers, be mindful to imprint such wonderful hymns and hymn-verses upon the memory of their dear little ones according to their ability. Should then perhaps many a mother also in later years have to wait long, weeping, for the return of her "Augustine," yet a rich harvest will follow upon a good sowing, as with the woman Monica, mother of Augustine, who later became one of the greatest lights in the firmament of the Church. Yes, may also schoolteachers and pastors in the instruction of the children and especially of the catechumens take care that a rich provision from the kernel of the best hymns be given them, so will many a soul surely be preserved to the true Church thereby, and not so easily let itself be led astray by "the voice of strangers;" and Rachel, the pious mother, the true Church, will have to weep less for her children, who were carried off from her arms and torn away, and are spiritually murdered among erring sects by false doctrine. God preserve us with and in the true Church, for only in her is true refreshment to be found. O Zion! thou lovely city, wafted about by the bloody banner of the cross, thou makest the earth fair, thou alone. — O who would desire to dwell longer in this wilderness, in these primeval forests, were Jerusalem not there, with its fountains of peace and joy. Were the Lord's mountain not there where the dew of the grace of Jehovah in Word and Sacrament refreshes us! — It is truly better to be a doorkeeper in the courts of the Lord than to dwell long in the tents of the ungodly. O may also the glorious hymns of the Church become a means for the return of the lost children of the Church! may they cast themselves penitently again into the arms of the Mother, that the praise of the LORD may resound in Zion from now on unto eternity. Yes, Zion! "blessed be he that blesseth thee, and cursed be he that curseth thee."

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(Sent in.)

Briefly Summarized Reports

on

the Origin, Progress and Present Condition of the Lutheran Preachers' Seminary at Fort Wayne, Ind.,

first

read aloud at the dedication of the new building, called the Wolterhaus, on the 29th of August 1850.

Since it has pleased the almighty and all-merciful God to awaken again to life our dear Lutheran Church even by means of the false Union of this our time, faithful children of this Church in the German fatherland have also taken hearty care for their Lutheran co-believers who have emigrated hither, lest these, in isolation and dispersion without any spiritual care, should pine and wither, or be converted, that is perverted, to their sects by the spiritual freebooters and partisans swarming about.

These dear Lutheran brethren, among whom Pastor Löhe at Neudettelsau in Franconian Bavaria stands especially at the head, have then, from the year 1842 to 1846, made it possible for 19 believing, churchly-minded and teaching-capable men to come over, in order to serve the Lutheran Church here as preachers and schoolteachers; after they had been prepared for it in the homeland, tested and provided with a special instruction. The chief impulse for this, however, had been given by the Lutheran pastor, Mr. Friedr. Wyneken.

This man, namely, after he had in his mission labor seen and experienced in many ways how the souls of his Lutheran fellow-believers were disturbed and unsettled by false doctrine and by the fleshly zeal for conversion especially of the Methodistic sects and enthusiasts, soon set out himself for Germany; and partly by oral addresses in various Lutheran lands, partly by the well-known writing, "Die Noth der deutschen Lutheraner in Amerika," he called forth in several places, as for example in Franconian Bavaria, Hanover and in the Kingdom of Saxony, a living sympathy and activity toward the beginning relief of this distress; and the first fruit of it from 1842 to 1846 was precisely the sending forth of those 19 brethren mentioned above.

In the year 1846, however, the self-sacrificing, self-denying love of the brethren across the sea, and especially that of Pastors Löhe and Wucherer, went still further; for upon the proposal and suggestion of Pastor Sihler at Fort Wayne they conceived the plan of founding a seminary there, in order that in it believing young men, equipped with the necessary gifts, might be trained in the most speedy yet thorough manner for the future assumption of the holy preaching office in the Lutheran Church. For it seemed with reason to the united brethren on this and the other side of the sea more fitting and serviceable if their young friends, in living view of the church conditions here and especially of the struggles of the Lutheran Church against papists, sectarian enthusiasts, Scripture-contradicting Union and false brethren, likewise against unintelligent and wickedly stubborn members in the individual congregations, for the service of the Church