# Der Lutheraner_St. Louis Missouri_1851 10 14_S27
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

27

namely, those concerning the divine Word, evangelical liberty, yea, even that of justification by faith, are by that false doctrine likewise falsified and damaged.

But if the Episcopal church of England neglects this purging away of that old legal leaven, then the present Titles Bill, even if it passes completely, together with all other measures and regulations of the power of the State, namely of the Queen, as (so-called) supreme bishop of the English church, would hardly be able to halt in any essential way its increasing relapse into the Roman-papistic church; for whatever the enthusiasts and their papers, together with their echo, the Lutheran Observer, may prattle in their fleshly zeal against popery, as though it were now more than ever in decline, it might perhaps turn out quite otherwise in a short time, and Antichrist gain new strength and vigor. —

Sermon
on 2 Peter 1, 19 — 21.
delivered before the Evang. Luth. congregation at St. Louis in the month of August 1851, and given to the press at request
by A. B.

(Conclusion.)

Finally, who can imagine that the prophecies of the O. T. were first fabricated by the disciples after the appearance of Christ on earth, when the Jews knew them long before Christ! Whence, then, did the twelve tribes of Israel diligently wait, day and night, for the Messiah? Upon what had Simeon grounded his prayer to the Lord that He would let him see with bodily eyes the Messiah come in the flesh? Whence had the wise men in the East looked for the star of the Messiah? Whence did the scribes give, on Herod's inquiry where the Messiah should be born, the answer: At Bethlehem in the land of Judea? Whence did they know that the Messiah was David's Son, and much else? Finally, whence was the rumor of the coming of the Messiah spread even among the heathen, as two noted Roman writers bear witness *), saying that the report had gone abroad that about their time men out of the Jews would take possession of the earth? Whence all this, if the prophecies were first devised afterwards by the disciples!

*) Suetonius and Tacitus.

From this it is manifest, to whoever holds to reason and follows the rules of common sense: the Christians, who believe that the prophecies of the O. T. were written by the holy men in whose books they are found, and at various times before the birth of Christ; or the opponents, who would have it that the prophecies were first read into the books of the O. T. by the Apostles after the occurrence of the facts of the N. Testament history, according to the measure of the same. We think that one must either give his assent to the faith of the Christians on this point, or renounce all use of reason and regard for the rules of common sense.

Nevertheless the opponents will perhaps still find a way out. This leads us to the third point.

III.

Someone says, perhaps: Even if the matter stands with the prophecies as the Christians believe, yet it surely does not stand so with the fulfillment of them; perhaps they never happened at all, or were first arranged by the disciples according to the guidance of the prophecies. Here, as before, we have to encourage ourselves to composure out of a well-grounded reason.

Now one should hardly believe that there could be men, at least such as appeal to reason, who assert that the events of the N. T. did not take place. Had they not taken place, whence then arose Christendom! I ask, had Europeans, particularly Englishmen, never immigrated into this country, whence then arose the American people with its language and its peculiarities? Had those events of the evangelical history not taken place, whence then arose the festivals in Christendom which are of great antiquity: Christmas, Good Friday, Easter, Ascension, Pentecost, not to mention the lesser ones! I ask, had the American people never freed itself from the dominion of England, whence then the celebration of the fourth of July? Had the events of the evangelical history not taken place, whence is it that not only all Christians affirm them, but their enemies also, the heathen, the Jews, the Mohammedans, bear testimony to them! I ask, had Europeans, particularly Englishmen, never immigrated hither, had the American people never made itself free, whence then their own reports, and those of the English and of all other peoples about it?

Whoever, therefore, thinks to follow reason and the rules of common sense, when he believes in the truth of the facts that lie at the foundation of the origin of the American people, because the existence of this people, because its national festivals, because the whole of history testifies to it, must also hold it reasonable, and in accordance with the rules of common sense, to believe in the facts that lie at the foundation of the origin of the Christian church, that is, the events related in the Gospels; yea, in a much higher degree, because here the circumstances which move to faith are much more evident, and speak much more loudly.

But, some will say, that the events which are narrated in the evangelical history actually occurred we do not deny either; we only assert that they were not brought about by God in order to fulfill the prophecies; but that they were so arranged by men, who had their particular designs in doing so, that they agree with the prophecies.

Let us see whether this assertion is more reasonable than any of the earlier assumptions of the opponents.

Who, then, should the men be who arranged those events? Perhaps the disciples? But among the events which constitute the fulfillment of the messianic prophecies there belong also events which took place before the disciples had come to years, or were even born. Or perhaps some secret, powerful society or order, in whose service the disciples also stood? But of such there is not a trace.

But apart also from this, that the disciples could not have arranged what happened before their time, and that it would be to follow a chimera should one here suppose the existence of a secret powerful association—would it nevertheless be in accordance with reason, and in harmony with the rules of common sense, to assume that any men whatever brought these events about? We give the following to consider. If it were a matter only of a single event, e. g., if the whole fulfillment of the prophecy consisted in the Lord's having entered Jerusalem upon an ass, we should indeed have to concede that men could have arranged this event by their own power. But here is more than one event, here is a chain of events, and there is no prophecy in the Old Testament concerning the appearance of the Messiah that can be shown not to have been fulfilled. How could men have fulfilled them all without exception? But more still. There are events among them whose accomplishment lies in no man's hand. The Messiah was to appear when the sceptre should be taken from Judah. This came to pass through the Romans. The disciples, or that imagined secret society, would therefore have had to order the Romans to subjugate the Jews, and the Jews to let themselves be subjugated. Further, it stood written that the Messiah should be born of David's line at Bethlehem, and suffer much, and die on the cross. Then the disciples, or that secret society, would have had to arrange that a child of David's lineage should be born in Bethlehem; would have had to order Herod to commit the Bethlehemite massacre of the children; would have had to order the Jews to be hostile to Jesus, to persecute Him and to resolve on His death; would have had to order Judas to betray Jesus for thirty pieces of silver, but Jesus to suffer innocently and to die the death of the cross, that He might help them carry out their plans; would have had to order Pilate to crucify Jesus, etc.; not even to mention that it was also prophesied of the Messiah that He would do miracles, and, after He had died and been buried, would rise again on the third day, which things those men, in order to fulfill the prophecies, would also have had to accomplish