# Der Lutheraner_St. Louis Missouri_1852 09 14_S13
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

13

known, to wish to maintain such a proposition any further.

But there is also a better ground than that of history, although that too is worthy of all honor; there is a ground from God's Word, upon which we reject that proposition and say in its stead: the mission proceeds from the Lord Christ, who truly has power to command that the Gospel be preached to every creature, and that not merely once, but continually, unto the end of the world. For whatever may be brought forward against it, it is after all only like a "rippling about the evening cloud, behind which the moon remains in good repose." Whatever one may bring forward against it, one will never be able to prove that it is not God's will that the Gospel should still today be preached to every creature, also to the heathen; nor will one ever be able to prove that God has not pronounced this His gracious will, has not commanded that His grace be proclaimed to all peoples unto the end of the world.

Upon the clear and definite Word and command of God the mission is founded, and not upon the papacy, nor upon the love of men, as Pastor Grabau teaches. The love for poor erring souls must indeed also move us to show them the way of life, but first of all comes the love of God and obedience to His Word. And where indeed should we have the right to assure the heathen also of the grace of God, if there were no word, no command of God for it? It would be nothing but self-chosen worship, of no use either to us or to the heathen. But thanks be to God that the mission is no vain self-chosen worship; thanks be to God that He Himself has commanded that His eternal grace, which embraces all men of all times, be proclaimed also to the poor heathen, and, if they repent, to baptize them in His name and to assure them of the eternal inheritance in heaven; for there is still room for them all. The sins of the whole world has the Lamb of God borne; all men He has redeemed, and with His blood has purchased them for His own possession; all shall therefore also be saved, that is His will. And His will is not idle and inactive, but living and effectual. He does not leave it to men whether, on occasion, they may "exhort the heathen to inquire better after the truth of God;" He does not wait for what the poor imperfect love of men will do; but His own eternal and most perfect love and compassion itself goes after the erring and the lost, seeks in every way to draw them to itself, and cries still today: "Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is none else!" And because He earnestly wills the salvation of all men, He wills also that the means of salvation be brought to them all, and the way to life be laid open. For merely to exhort the heathen to inquire better after the truth of God, without proclaiming this truth of God to them at once, would in fact be nothing else than to say to the hungering and freezing poor: "God counsel you, warm you and fill you," without lifting a hand to relieve the want. Should God wait until mankind, dead in sins, sought Him; until the spiritually blind beheld His glory and longed after Him; until the spiritually dumb called upon Him; until the spiritually dead went to meet Him: then He would remain forever unsought and unfound, and the costly redemption of Jesus Christ would be in vain. But thanks be to His eternal love that He does not, like the priest and the Levite, pass by and leave us lying in our blood; but, like the good Samaritan, binds up our wounds, brings us to the inn and cares for us, without waiting until we shall ask Him for it. Thanks be to His eternal love that He still today says: "I am found of them that sought me not, and to the heathen that called not upon my name I say, Behold me, behold me." Isa. 65, 1.

Not from the papacy, then, does the mission proceed, and not from our love has it sprung, but Christ is the Founder of the mission. He Himself has commanded once for all that the Gospel be proclaimed to every creature, to all peoples, and that not merely once. Now it can indeed no longer be proclaimed today to the Greeks and Romans, the Huns and Goths, but to other peoples, who did not yet exist at that time, it must be preached; to every creature, unto the end of the world, unto the last day, it must be preached; that is God's will, that His Word commands. And His Word, this Word also, remains truth and stands fast, even though heaven and earth pass away.

But Pastor Grabau takes it ill of us that in the heavy and responsible work of the mission we rest upon the will and command of God, and take comfort in this, that our work, because it is commanded by God and blessed with divine promise, will also not be in vain, even though our eyes should not at once see the fruits grow and ripen; as indeed a husbandman also sows in hope and has patience until God gives the increase. He calls it "folly of novices" when we exhort the Church not to bury the precious treasure of the knowledge of God in a napkin, but faithfully and according to God's command to put it out to usury, until the earth be full of the knowledge of the LORD, and His holy name be praised in all tongues. Further, he would gladly take the ground from under our feet, in that he asserts that for the proclamation of the Gospel among the heathen there belongs the gift of speaking unlearned tongues and of doing miracles; which gift the Apostles received for their appointed calling. And when I proved to him in the previous article (See "Lutheraner" No. 16.) that this is not so, since not the Apostles alone, but at that time almost all Christians spoke with tongues, and very many had the gift of doing miracles, who yet were neither Apostles nor pastors and teachers; he becomes quite angry over it, honors me with strange names, although he knows very well that I am called neither "Hans" nor "Klügel," and says: my proposition proves nothing further than that the Apostles' word was confirmed by accompanying signs in many believers." But Pastor Grabau is mistaken in this. My proposition really proves what it is to prove; namely this: since in the time of the Apostles other Christians also had the gift of tongues and of miracles, this gift cannot have been a "letter of vocation and credence of the apostolic office." And Pastor Grabau therefore has no more right to demand this gift now of the preachers to the heathen, than he has a right to demand it of the preachers among the Christians and of himself, indeed of all Christians. — When the Bride of the Lamb first appeared on earth, it pleased the heavenly Bridegroom to adorn her so wonderfully with gifts and powers that even outwardly the rays of glory worked mightily, and drew all who did not harden themselves. But as every bride lays aside her ornament in order to show domestic fidelity in plain dress: so also for the Church the time came, and still is present, to show fidelity to her heavenly Bridegroom in plain dress, sunburnt, misjudged and reviled. In His time the LORD will surely turn away her reproach, and so glorify her that all the world shall marvel and be afraid. What, therefore, the whole Church militant lacks at this time, let it not be demanded of individual members. And how should the poor preachers to the heathen come to make an exception in this? Apostles they do not wish to be either, as Pastor Grabau would impose upon them. They know very well that they are not worthy to carry the shoes of those princes of the Church, and it does not occur to them even in a dream to compare themselves with them. They are nothing more and wish to be nothing more than voices in the wilderness, proclaiming the Gospel to those who, outside the city of God, lie languishing "in the highways and hedges," and to compel them to come in, because they know that in the heavenly marriage hall there is still room for them also. But their poor love would never be able to drive them to this service, if the clear will and command of God did not constrain them to it. And never would their poor love be able to quench the fiery darts of the Wicked One, who has his stronghold and his temple among the heathen, if they had not the shield of faith, that their work is willed and commanded by God. Let them not be deprived of this comfort!

As to the "Missourian preachers to the heathen," the conclusion that Prof. Crä-