# Der Lutheraner_St. Louis Missouri_1853 01 04_S70
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

70

Doctrines of Pastor Grabau.

bau," etc., page 15. Cf. pp. 45, 46. Second Synodal Report of 1848, pp. 11, 12.)

3. "Therefore we are convinced that a man arbitrarily set up by the congregation can neither give absolution nor distribute the body and blood of Christ, but that he gives mere bread and wine . . . From this one will understand the right meaning of the Fathers in the Smalcald Articles, and will not believe that the Fathers permitted such arbitrariness, as though any congregation, or indeed any crowd that falls away from the true Church and honors itself with the name of congregation,†) might at pleasure set up one from its midst for the spiritual office." (In the "Hirtenbrief." See: Hirtenbrief, etc., pp. 15, 17.) In the Synodal Report Pastor Grabau himself does not except the case of necessity, if it be a merely "supposed" one, that is, if one erroneously supposes that the case of necessity has occurred, and administers the Sacrament on that account. (See page 12.)

†) From this addition one sees that Pastor Grabau has denied to a true congregation what he formerly denied to the disorderly call of a congregation, and not merely to an ungodly rabble fallen away from God's Word.

4. "God will deal with us on earth through the public office of the Church, instruct us, absolve us, give us communion, etc., through the same. Therefore the Church must have a certain, infallible testimony that the person in the office is an office-bearer accredited in divine order and according to the divine will, so that God would deal with us through him." (In the "Hirtenbrief." See page 15.)

5. "God's law, to be sure, demands obedience in the third and fourth commandments; but the Gospel is the rule of it, how, that is, with what mind and heart it is to be rendered; and the persons to whom it is to be rendered are here called pastors and teachers . . . Lutheran Christians know, when God's Word says: 'Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves,' that this speaks not only of preaching, but of all good Christian things and occasions which God's Word brings with it and wills to have, and which belong to the good government of the Church, also to Christian welfare in life and works, and that honor, love, and obedience are demanded according to the third and fourth commandments of God . . . Here, throughout, the obedience demanded is a matter of conscience; but through the Holy Ghost also a willing and joyful one, because of a believing recognition of the good in the grace of JEsus Christ." (Second Synodal Letter, pp. 155, 56.)

Doctrines of the Roman Church.

Sess. 6, Chap.) "If anyone says that in the New Testament there is no visible outward priesthood, or that there is not a power to consecrate the true body and blood of the Lord . . ., but only an office and bare ministry for the proclamation of the Gospel . . : let him be accursed." (Ibid., 23rd Sess., 4th Chap.)

3. If anyone says that all Christians have power to administer the Word and all the Sacraments: let him be accursed." (Concil. Trid., 7th Sess., On the Sacraments, 10th Can.) "With regard to the dispensing of this Sacrament, the holy Council declares that all those doctrines are false . . which in a pernicious manner extend the office of the keys to any other men besides bishops and priests, supposing that those words of the Lord, Matt. 18, 19, John 20, 23, were so spoken, without distinction and in common, to all the faithful of Christ, that every one has the power to forgive sins." (Ibid., 14th Sess., 6th Chap.)

4. "It has always been held in the Church, and this Council confirms it as most true, that that absolution has no power at all which a priest pronounces over one over whom he has no ordinary or delegated jurisdiction." (Concil. Trid., 14th Sess., 7th Chap.)

5. "If anyone says that nothing is commanded in the Gospel except faith . . : let him be accursed." (Trid. Conc., 6th Sess., 6th Chap.) "If anyone says that JEsus Christ was given by God to men as a Redeemer in whom they are to believe, and not also as a Lawgiver whom they are to obey: let him be accursed." (Ibid.)

Doctrines of the Lutheran Church.

with ground of truth cannot be said, unless the Donatism . . . were true." (Thesaur. II. f. 407)

3. "The laity are priests, but only by virtue of an inward ability fitted for all the affairs of the Church, and so also for the administration of the holy Supper; so that we may not suppose that a Sacrament will be any less true which a layman, led to it either by necessity or by an error, has given. See the blessed Schomerus on Collegiatism, where those words of Luther are also cited: 'Our faith must not look to the person, whether he be pious or wicked, consecrated or unconsecrated, called or crept in.'" (Z. Grapii theol. recens controversa. Tom. 4. p. 89.)

4. "The power of the means of salvation, of the Word and of the Sacraments, depends not upon the person, but upon God the LORD, who is mighty through His Word and the Sacraments, if only they be rightly taught and set forth, even though all is not altogether right with the ministry (office), and the person, life, and calling of the Church's servant add nothing to the power of the means and of the Sacraments; therefore Paul rejoices when the Gospel and Christ are preached in every manner, whether by chance or in the right way. Phil. 1, 18. And if one were first to be assured of the lawful vocation of the preachers, who could then assure and comfort himself of their office, since now in this, now in that point it is wanting? or at least a hearer would have to be anxious about it, so would the simple be sorely misled and troubled. And no one could constantly comfort himself with the power of the Word and of the Sacraments, nor be sure of his salvation. The LORD Christ Himself made use of the Israelitish service of the Church, although He well knew that it had not gone rightly with the appointment of the high priests, and how such offices were sold or exchanged contrary to God's ordinance." (From an affirmative answer of the theological Faculty of Wittenberg of 1660 to the question: Whether the godly members of a congregation may with good conscience make use of the service of a man who had had himself made by the city council the successor of a preacher wrongfully driven out? Consil. Wittenberg. II. 195.)

5. "That the Gospel demands works can be understood in two ways; first, that it is a doctrine and a rule of good works, that it demands new and more perfect works than are prescribed in the law, that it requires works by compulsion; and in this sense we reject that proposition. Secondly, that the benefit of the Gospel is not only the forgiveness of sins, but also renewal, by which we are prepared for good works, that the faith which is kindled by the Gospel necessarily proves itself by good works, that works are required of those who believe the Gospel, and in this sense we tolerate that proposition, after we have previously set forth the impropriety of speech from which it suffers." (Johann Gerhard's Loci th. de ev. §. 28, directed against Cardinal Bellarmine.) "The proper and natural meaning of this word (Gospel) is that in which it is used for the doctrine of the gracious forgiveness of sins through faith in Christ . . Thirdly, the word Gospel is used in a wider sense for the whole office of the N. T., which comprehends not only the doctrine of grace but also of the law . . Wherever the doctrine of the law is set in opposition to the Gospel, etc., it is certain that under the name 'Gospel' the doctrine of grace is to be understood." (Ib. §. 6, 7.)