# Der Lutheraner_St. Louis Missouri_1852 04 13_S134
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134

steps of Pastor Löhe toward the reformation of the Bavarian state church and respectively of the Lutheran church of that land, and believed that they could not carry on the work hand in hand with him. As little as it could occur to us to permit ourselves a final judgment upon every detail in this matter, in part strange to us, yet we were obliged, precisely in the main point, in the proposed immediate abolition of mixed communion and in the renunciation of the same by word and deed, to give Pastor Löhe unqualified right; since in this case it is not a question of an abuse which might still be tolerated, but of a sin, of a practice which not only disfigures the Church but alters (changes) the very essence and existence of the Church itself. We cannot praise highly enough, however, that our respectful contradiction on this as on the former point changed nothing of the hearty friendliness with which the Professors had met us from the beginning.

Besides what has already been reported, there were chiefly two further things that made our stay in Erlangen as pleasant as it was fruitful. First, namely, we enjoyed here the daily intercourse of the Court Assessor of this place, Mr. Hommel, one of the most intimate friends of Pastor Löhe. To be sure, our daily meetings called forth almost daily a hard bout on Church, Ministry, Antichrist and the like; but Assessor Hommel, with all the decisiveness and energy with which he appears, is so thoroughly humble, with all his dialectical dexterity (that is, in disputing) so thoroughly upright and open, with all his apparent severity in judgment so sincere a Christian, fearing God from the heart, that through all the disputations never even the shadow of a discord could enter into our fellowship. With every day the dear, honest man became only dearer and more precious to us, and we hope to have left behind in him a faithful friend, personally as well as of our Church in Germany. Mr. Hommel has recently published an excellent musical Agenda and dedicated the same especially to his co-believers in America; we intend to review it in detail shortly, but already here call attention in advance to this work especially of all those of the brethren in the ministry who perhaps have for some time painfully felt the lack of musical aids for the performance of as complete a sung liturgy as possible for preacher, choir and congregation, and remark here that, with preceding instruction, everything is to be found in it in masterly execution which is needful for the liturgical part of public as well as of household worship.

The other circumstance, finally, that made our stay in Erlangen so pleasant and fruitful was that we here became acquainted with a company of godly students, with whom we soon had almost daily lively intercourse. Here also, namely, there has formed (besides other generally Christian student associations, such as that of the so-called "Uttenreuther") for a short time a confessional Lutheran student association, under the name "Philadelphia," as an offshoot of the Leipzig "Philadelphia" and through impulse from that quarter. The members of this association dine daily — since their number is still only small — at one table, at which we too had to appear on repeated occasions. We sought to be useful to these young, zealous and hopeful men above all by imparting to them what we have here in our American literary poverty, namely, by commending to them the writings of our old theologians and calling their attention to the treasures which lie hidden here under a form, to be sure, less brilliant, treasures of wisdom and knowledge and experience which one seeks in vain in the more recent theological writings. We showed them that it is indeed right and their calling to make themselves thoroughly acquainted also with the more recent products in the field of theology and of religion in general, and that it would be foolish to deny that the more recent theological labors and researches also offer to the beginning as well as the advancing theologian a certainly not inconsiderable yield; but that just now, when there is a ferment in the field of theological sciences and it has scarcely yet come anywhere to a proper clarification, it is above all necessary first to learn and to hold fast what our pious, faithful and truly learned fathers have already won in their severe, mighty conflicts. Naturally it was first of all Luther, to whose spirit-, power- and life-breathing writings we pointed these young disciples of heavenly wisdom, Luther, in whom, as Dr. Rudelbach so beautifully and truly says, "is the hearth of the development of the evangelical doctrine." Judging by oral and written declarations, this our testimony has also not remained without rich fruit. May the LORD bring it to maturity and abundantly and exceedingly fulfil the hope and the petition which one of the students expresses in a letter sent after us in the words: "The fruit of the hours which I was permitted to spend in your presence the LORD will in grace bring to ripeness, and my future labor in the Church of the LORD shall bear witness of the blessing of these hours.... Pray for me, that I may one day be a faithful steward of the mysteries of God. Ubi ecclesia, ibi patria." (Where the Church is, there is my fatherland.) "This the motto of your" (united with you by one faith) "etc." I cannot refrain from communicating here the names of these young people; they are as follows: P. Kellner, cand. rev. min., from Schwirz in Prussian Silesia;*) F. Pöhlmann, cand. theol., from Lorenzreuth in Upper Franconia in Bavaria; M. Frommel, stud. theol., from Carlsruhe in Baden; A. Wagner, stud. theol., from Dresden in Saxony; J. Niemack, stud. theol., from Kirchwehren near Hanover; E. Kollmann, stud. jur., from Grüssow in Mecklenburg-Schwerin, and Th. Merz, stud. theol., from Greiz in Reuss. Thus, namely, they had signed themselves in a brotherly letter of encouragement, which they gave me for the students in the Concordia Seminary here, in order thus to open a spiritual intercourse between the students on this side and on that.

*) This is the son of the well-known, so steadfast confessor of the truth among the preachers of the separated Prussian Lutherans, who still in Schwirz proclaims the sweet Gospel with youthful strength and cheerfulness.

(To be continued.)

(Submitted.)

Friendly Request and Reminder to the Congregations of the Synod Regarding Support of the Seminary at Fort Wayne.

It is well known to the readers of the Lutheraner, and especially to the congregations of the Synod, that about three years ago we bought for our seminary here a piece of ground of 15 acres, situated one mile east of the town, on which stand a brick house, a frame house and a barn, together with a fine orchard, for the price of 2500 dollars. The congregation of Fort Wayne contributed 1600 toward it, that of Pastor Jäbker 376 dollars, and the remainder was made up by other, mostly neighboring congregations.

As the number of pupils meanwhile increased, and the dwelling of one of the teachers was also outside, the available room soon proved insufficient, and about two years ago we were obliged to build a new brick house of the size of the old one, namely of four rooms together with a large dormitory extending from one gable to the other, which, as we preferred stronger walls, cost nearly 1000 dollars. — Since now the seminary treasury was not in a position to defray the costs, although we expended funds from it which, as we learned later from Germany, had been sent to the seminary treasury for another purpose, we were obliged to incur some debts, which we are now bound to pay off again.

The congregations of our Synod, therefore, and especially those which are already better off, and perhaps also have former pupils of the Fort Wayne Seminary as pastors or schoolteachers, are brotherly entreated to come kindly to our help in this need for Christ's sake; for since the local and some