# Der Lutheraner_St. Louis Missouri_1851 01 07_S77
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

77

of which she is ashamed and from which she solemnly renounces, but also free from that noble light in man of which she boasts above all others and which she alone would have shine.

(Submitted.)

The Church Hymn-Books.

Elucidation and Defense.

Dear Andreas!

I find myself moved to address a few more lines to you, and to inform you that against the letters which I addressed to you concerning the Pennsylvania hymn-book, several articles have already appeared in the "Lutheran Standard" and the "Weylscher Kirchenbote." *)

*] This counter-criticism of the Weylschen K. B. has unfortunately! not come to our own sight: Our dear readers already know that it belongs to the tactics of this hero that he prudently does not send us those numbers in which he attacks us. By this noble stratagem the Bote is said to have already reduced the mightiest enemies to silence. Compare the fable of the bold little kid on the roof. Ed.

The correspondents find themselves grievously offended that the hymn-book in question has been so much suspected, since many hymns from the time of the Reformation are indeed contained in it. — Well, I knew that also very well, and even indicated it myself at once in my first letter, in the following words: "That a considerable number of old hymns of the core were to be found in the newly published hymn-book;" — and I now add only this: that unfortunately most of these same have been altered or abridged. It goes without saying that I have not rejected the good which is contained in the Pennsylvania hymn-book. But precisely because the false stands beside the good, I wished to bring some of the false to light; and precisely because that book contains a mixture of true and false, which suits all sorts of people, Reformed and Unionists as well as Rationalists, and in a pinch even Lutherans, I deemed a warning necessary. Or should the Lutheran Church be so poor, and therefore be in need of borrowing materials from the Reformed, the Unionists, etc.? On the contrary, she is so rich in sterling church hymns that the Reformed, the Unionists, and other sects must rather live upon her wealth. From the hymn-books of the sects it is easy to prove that the pure which they still have alongside the impure has originally flowed from the fountain of the Lutheran Church. But precisely because our Church, bearing Word and Sacrament in pure confession within her, is the well-house at whose bright clear waters even members of other communions sometimes quench their thirst, it is so much the more needful that the children of this Church, with brightly shining faces and with sharp swords, take their stand about the pure fountain to guard it, that it be not troubled, and that against every falsification protest be entered at once. The correspondent of the "Lutheran Standard" seems indeed to be a tolerable Lutheran, for he remarks in his first article that in respect of doctrinal principles he stands upon the same basis with all true Lutherans, and calls the principles of Dr. Schmucker a "miserable theory;" likewise he will have nothing to do with the tendency of the "Weylscher Kirchenbote"; he thinks that the same is neither "Old-Measure man nor New-Measure man" — thus "Nothing": yet this correspondent wishes to prove that "no hymn is contained in the Pennsylvania hymn-book in which the doctrine and spirit of our Church is missed!" In his second article he declares that he also is not quite satisfied with the alteration of the old hymns, but commits there a great error when he says: "that nearly all hymns of Dr. Martin Luther are to be found in the Pennsylvania hymn-book." Would that the worthy correspondent examined the matter better; he would then find that it is not so; for in the Pennsylvania hymn-book — counting the altered hymns of Dr. Martin Luther — there are not much more than a dozen, while in the St. Louis hymn-book there are nearly forty unaltered hymns of Dr. Martin Luther. We hope the worthy and judicious correspondent will retract his error. — The same further adduces that communion hymns are indeed contained in the Pennsylvania hymn-book in which the doctrine of the Lutheran Church is contained. Quite true, but has the correspondent then not noticed those communion hymns there under which stand the names of Reformed hymn-writers? Is the pure or the false doctrine to be sought there? The Herr Correspondent, as a Lutheran, as he calls himself, cannot possibly approve of this. Or can it be a matter of indifference to him that precisely the two excellent communion hymns of Dr. Martin Luther have been omitted in the new Pennsylvania book, though one of them is contained unaltered in the old Pennsylvania hymn-book, and that in the "new" Reformed communion hymns were put in place of those by Luther? — But supposing the correspondent were satisfied with that, he should not think that we Lutherans in the bush should also be satisfied with it, especially since the name "Old Lutheran" is forever being forced upon us by violence; yea, he shall know: if we must by all means be called "Old Lutherans," very well, then we also want to have the true, pure, unadulterated "Old Lutheran" doctrine, according to the symbolical books of our Ev. Luth. Church.

In regard to the hymn by Woltersdorf found in the new Pennsylvania hymn-book the correspondent prudently says nothing, for he may well have found that the same in the old Pennsylvania hymn-book, No. 218, in the 3rd verse, contains that rhyme: "Here may soul and body eat Him," quite literally, as we have proved. With regard to Luther's hymn, "Christ unser Herr zum Jordan kam," the correspondent thinks that the alteration and abridgment were not made in order to falsify the doctrine of Baptism, yet adds: "We are not as well pleased with the Changes in Luthers Hymns." — Well, if that is so, why then are Luther's hymns not all left unaltered, as they were composed by Luther? For if every man were to file away at them with his file, posterity would find little more of Luther's hymns; and if the Church, as the bearer and keeper of the noble jewel of our church hymns, goes before with so bad an example, what is one to expect of other sects? Then the Church might well some day have cause to lament with deep sorrow, from "the Song of Songs," as the Reverend G. Schaller put it in verse:

The vineyard entrusted to me
That have I, alas, not kept
O! how the Queen shudders!
I have stored up sorrow for myself!"

As for the other correspondent, my dear Andreas, we shall soon be done with him. — The same has poured out his wrath against us in the "Weylscher Kirchenbote." First, he says that we allowed ourselves "revilings" in our letters, but we are conscious of nothing of the kind, unless he took the expression "New-Measure Lutherans" for a reviling. It appears that he found himself hit by it, since he, as appears from his article, must also be a "New-Measure man." But if he holds the said expression to be a reviling, we might also hold it a reviling when in his article he scolds us as "Old Lutherans." — Yet we will not on that account wage a war of words with him, and will let the matter rest. Yet we will bring to light the ignorance which he displays in his article; he writes: "Luther will have nothing against it in heaven, that his hymns be altered so far that one sings "haben" instead of "han"": Well, of that there was and is no question, for such a quarrel would be too childish. — Further the same writes: "Neither will he (Luther) be so very angry if to some of his hymns which have a difficult and unknown melody, as is the case with: Christ unser Herr zum Jordan kam, a better-known melody is fitted, merely for the purpose of making it serviceable. — Here the correspondent proves his boundless ignorance, in that he asserts that a better-known melody has been fitted to Luther's hymn. This is a quite groundless assertion, for this hymn in its altered form in the new Pennsylvania hymn-book has still precisely the same syllabic measure, and thus the same old melody, as in the old Pennsylvania hymn-book, in which not only three altered, but all seven unaltered verses, No. 202, are to be found. — Since now this correspondent is able to bring forward nothing thorough for his cause, he departs entirely from his purpose, and preaches to the "Old Lutherans" in the West a rough sermon, writing among other things: "We will also with this doctrine