# Der Lutheraner_St. Louis Missouri_1852 12 07_S1021
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Supplement to No. 13, Volume 9, of the Lutheraner.

(Contributed by Pastor Fürbringer in Freistatt and Kirchhain, Wisc.)

A Historical-Theological Contribution

toward a more complete judgment of the disputes between the Grabauians and the so-called Missourians.

(Conclusion.)

This confession, as fides, quae creditur, is however inseparable from its formal principle, the written Word of the Apostles and Prophets; the two permeate one another, because without faith (fides, qua creditur) the Word is not imparting itself and its power on earth, and without confession subjective faith cannot be conceived; and both have their unity in the essential Word, Christ. Now if I posit the office in concreto, stripped of its connection with the Church, mechanically and outwardly imposed upon it, then the office is hereby the only correct and lawful interpreter of Scripture, Scripture is not intelligible without it, and since the office makes the Church, the Scripture principle is subordinated to the testimony of the Church, and when once such fetters of an unchristian authority are burst, it is abandoned to a ruinous subjectivity and diversity of opinion among individuals, to Rationalism.

What dreadful consequences proceed from such Romanistic doctrine! What abuse of the ban, too, must necessarily flow from it! It is no wonder that Grabau, with a fire without equal, which must be impure, zealously contends for the latter and stakes and ventures everything upon it, as fanatics do, even at the risk of being regarded, before the eyes of the whole Church at home and abroad, as a writer not equal to his subject, indeed as a teacher wholly uncertain of his cause, of heaping upon us against his own conscience all manner of heretics' names, such as Donatists, Syncretists, Pietists, etc., etc., which have their ground only in the shameful distortion of the truth on his part, of ridiculously bringing us before his congregations under the suspicion of being Union-minded, merely in order to keep these, to whom Union is almost the living devil himself, with himself and together, no matter whether with a lie or not—all this, because he knows well that if his doctrine is taken from him, the heaven-crying sin of his unjust ban stands exposed and uncovered. From this he has fallen, through the deceit of his own heart, deeper into the error agreeable to the flesh, and the same error has in turn made him hard and fast in his sins, which he has sought to gloss over, and has confirmed him more and more.—Truly, he is to be compared to the man in that fable, who, enraged over the music which certain animals, as innocent guests, had struck up in his vestibule, leaps in, in the darkness of the night—
"with a cudgel,
Lays about him, smashes the mirror,
Knocks over a dozen bowls,
Stumbles over some shavings,
Falls on the clock,
And breaks two rows of teeth—
Blind zeal does only harm!

Why does it matter so much that the doctrine of Church and Ministry be kept purely Lutheran? 1) If the outward visible fellowship corrupts itself in doctrine and life, and I come, while still in it, to the knowledge of it: then I have, from God's behalf, after having given testimony to it which was not accepted, to go out from it at least in spirit, and to dissolve the fraternal relation in faith with it. Am I now, on that account, no longer a member of the body of Christ? Why, certainly I am still a member, for that body is, in the proper sense, the invisible Church of all believers. False prophets make it a matter of conscience to remain a member of the visible Church even in such a case, and call the opposite course Donatism. (Compare the orthodox exposition of St. Matt. 23 and of Aug. Conf. Art. 8 in J. Gerhard, harmon. p. 541. sqq.) 2) If I am unjustly excluded and excommunicated from the visible Church, am I on that account also cut off from the body of Christ? Why, certainly never; I am to comfort myself with the fellowship of the invisible Church, outside of which there is no salvation and no blessedness.—And if such poor banned persons, repulsed by the hand of the unjust preacher from the reception of the gifts of grace, of absolution and communion, come together by themselves, have they then no ministry, no Word and Sacrament, and must they now remain without them forever? By no means. They have right and title and command, on pain of losing their salvation, to set up the ministry among themselves; and if they are otherwise true believers, the holy Christian Church can become visible among them through pure Word and Sacrament, while yonder in the forsaken unjust fellowship the doctrine is gradually and by so much the more falsified. For the Christian Church is no dumb church; it makes itself known by right and pure confession, and bears witness against the corruption of those who only despise the true, inward spiritual fellowship with the invisible Head, and would cover up everything with the outward church-system.*

*Note. Would one hold it possible, if one did not have it before one's eyes and ears, that it could go so far with the erroneous doctrine of the visibility of the Church, that among those who cherish it the blind delusion spreads universally, that from a preacher, provided only he be in the right office, although he make abuse of the doctrine, whoever wishes to be saved may nevermore depart, unless his church court, where, however, the adult members of the congregation themselves have neither seat nor voice, condemns him; likewise that the ban, which the right office conducts, even if he err, is yet attended with harmful consequences for him whom he strikes; yes, that everything which a preacher of the true visible Church ordains, if only it be not contrary to God's Word, must be kept, for the sake of the third and fourth commandments, on pain of the salvation of souls, because Christ speaks through him, (compare on the contrary Apol. p. 295 sq. ed. German. after Rechenberg p. 493 ff.—!)

Grabau, in all seriousness, sets salvation and blessedness nowhere outside the visible true Church. Since he now holds his own fellowship to be that Church, he quite consistently denies to the so-called factions separated from him fellowship with Christ. Aside from the fact that he has banned whole communities, which is an outrage, to be called horrible and dreadful, seeing that there is none of the called, who do not wholly reject God's Word, among whom believers are not hidden: he now also asserts that among them there is no power of the keys and therefore also no pastorate, which contradicts all sound doctrine; one need only compare, besides some passages already cited above, Gerhardi locc. th. V. p. 278. VI. p. 93 sq.

It can be all one to us, after we have admonished him, whether he holds us for Lutheran preachers or not, when God's Word and His Church recognize us as such, although we cherish heartfelt pity for the unhappy man and the most longing desire to become united with him again. Let him but be honest and renounce the name Lutheran rather than torment and wear himself out any longer with it, to cast a veil over his anti-evangelical tendencies. Above all, however, we wish him and his fellow-officers from the heart the repentance which God gives, to acknowledge the truth and to become sober again out of the snare by which they are held captive. May the merciful and faithful Lord let them and us all then abide with Him, grow in His grace and knowledge, and grant steadfastness, that we may keep His Word and Sacrament pure unto our end: so will we thank Him and praise His name, and worshipping cry out: He hath done all things well, blessed be His holy name forever, Hallelujah, Amen!

The Pastors Grabau and Winkler and the Congregation at Cleveland.

The Cleveland congregation has more than once been the object of violent attacks on the part of the Rev. Gentlemen