# Der Lutheraner_St. Louis Missouri_1852 04 13_S132
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

132

and according to their whole being be ever more sanctified and transfigured into His image. But if thou art a Christian, is it not enough for thee when thou hearest: That I become ever more complete, that is the commandment of my God? Or wilt thou perhaps say: Since I cannot and shall not be saved by sanctification, I will not pursue sanctification either, although it is God's will? God forbid.

But more still! The holy Apostle says further, at the close of our Epistle, also this: "For God hath not called us unto uncleanness, but unto holiness." From this we see, precisely for this reason are we called into the kingdom of grace, that through grace we may come to sanctification. Sanctification is the last goal of the whole work of our salvation; precisely for this reason our sins are forgiven us, that we may be able to be freed from sin; precisely for this reason has God the Father in grace received us as His children in holy Baptism, that we may now walk as His children; precisely for this reason are we redeemed, purchased and won by God the Son, not with gold or silver, but with His holy, precious blood and with His innocent suffering and death, from all sins, from death and from the power of the devil: that we may be His own, and live under Him in His kingdom and serve Him in everlasting righteousness, innocence and blessedness, even as He is risen from the dead, lives and reigns to all eternity; precisely for this reason has God the Holy Ghost called us by the Gospel, that He might also enlighten us with His gifts, and sanctify and preserve us in the true faith. He who has become a Christian is thereby called to the race toward heaven, to the battle against sin, and to the holy priesthood of God. Whoever, therefore, would indeed be a Christian under grace, but will not grow on and on in sanctification, wants to be a runner and not run, wants to be a fighter and not fight, wants to be a sacrificing priest of God and not sacrifice, and thereby denies that he is a Christian.

Yet, my dear hearers, the holy Apostle goes still further and impresses upon us the necessity of sanctification still more earnestly, in that he says: "That ye should abstain from fornication: that every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honor; not in the lust of concupiscence, even as the Gentiles which know not God: that no man go beyond and defraud his brother in any matter: because that the Lord is the avenger of all such, as we also have forewarned you and testified." You see, the holy Apostle himself here reminds Christians, when they will not pursue sanctification but want to give sin room again, of God's vengeance and wrath. This indeed seems almost too much, that even Christians under grace, if they will not become more complete in sanctification, are threatened with God's wrath and vengeance. But let us not be surprised at this. The reason is this: To be sure, sanctification does not make one a Christian (rather, man can only then pursue sanctification when he has already become a Christian beforehand), but to be a Christian and not to pursue sanctification, that is impossible.

As in nature, wherever there is life, there is no standstill, as in nature an eternal stirring and moving and advancing takes place, so also in the kingdom of grace, in Christianity, there is no standstill. Whoever does not go forward in his Christianity does not stand still, as he supposes, but goes backward; and as a child, if it does not grow, certainly sickens and pines, and as a tree which puts forth no more new branches is certainly approaching death: so the Christian sickens and pines and dies spiritually who does not increase in the enlightenment of his understanding through ever better knowledge of the truth, in the purification and renewal of his heart, and in zeal of life in good works. And as the sickening and pining of the child comes at last to death, and the dying of the tree to perishing and falling down, so also the Christian who falls ever farther behind in sanctification must at last die spiritually and fall down again into the dominion of sin.

Ah, my dear friends, there is truly no jesting here; thousands and again thousands have already been Christians under grace, and because they shrank from daily repentance and from zeal in sanctification, have either slowly sunk back again into spiritual death, or in the storm of temptation have suddenly fallen into unbelief or into sin, never to rise again. They were once living members of the body of Jesus Christ, green branches on His vine, and zealous fighters in the ranks of the Church militant, but later they had either to be cut off as infectious, rotten members, or they themselves forsook the banners of the Captain of their salvation, or they hung only like withered branches on the tree of the kingdom of grace, and now they lie, eternally shut out from the fellowship of the Church triumphant in heaven, in the dreadful prison of the lost, from which there is no rescue, no redemption, no return. O what a hell must he feel in hell beyond others who was once already in grace, and is now banished from Christ's countenance forever! Who even here once tasted the powers of the world to come and the good Word of God, and there must drink eternally of the cup of God's wrath, without a ray of hope ever again to experience a feeling of peace and joy! O unspeakable misery! O nameless heartache! — Therefore, O Christian, let it be said to thee what the Lord says: "Strive to enter in at the strait gate: for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able;" and what the Apostle writes: "Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling." That old hymn therefore calls out to thee:

Strive aright, when God's grace
Now draws thee and converts,
That thy spirit may rightly be unburdened
Of the load that weighs upon it.
Strive, for the gate is narrow,
And the way of life is strait,
Here all stays in the press,
That aims not toward the hall of heaven.
Hast thou already won the pearl,
Think not that thou hast now
Conquered all evil
That is wont to do us harm.
Take heed with fear of thy soul,
Of thy salvation with trembling.
Here in this body's cave
Thou hoverest daily in danger.
Hold fast thy crown,
Hold manfully what thou hast;
To persevere aright is best,
Relapse is an evil guest.
Ah, consider it well, ye warriors,
Fight aright and fear;
Go on every day further,
Till ye come into the kingdom of heaven.
Hasten, run to meet the Lord,
Say: My Light, I am ready,
Now to lay down my little tent,
I thirst for eternity. Amen!

Report of the Editor's Journey.

(Continuation.)

When we came to Bavaria, we found the ecclesiastical conditions there advanced to a new stage. The Upper Consistory had just issued a rescript in response to the complaints submitted by Pastor Löhe and several fellow officeholders friendly to him, concerning the legal standing of the Lutheran Church in Bavaria. In this rescript the scruples of the latter were declared unfounded, the unimpaired standing of a Lutheran Church in Bavaria was assured to them, and remaining in it was made a matter of conscience. A joint conference was necessary. Such a one had accordingly been appointed for the 9th of October. It was held at Schwabach. The invitation of Pastor Löhe to be present at it we accepted, of course, with great joy. The result of the discussions has already been communicated; it consisted, to repeat it here in brief, in the main in this, that those concerned drew up and signed a written declaration to the Upper Consistory to the effect that, on the ground of the assurance of the Upper Consistory, awaiting improvement, they were indeed willing to remain within the complex of the territorial church, but that they must herewith renounce in writing, and from now on also in fact, all mixed communion fellowship practiced in it (between Lutherans and Reformed or Unionists). This step, the carrying out of a principle also maintained by us here, naturally had our fullest approval. — Of great Wich-