# Der Lutheraner_St. Louis Missouri_1854 09 12_S14 # AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration) 14 Heinzen. But you let yourselves be taken in by anyone who entertains you with a flood of empty phrases, and you clap applause where a sensible man feels aversion or regret? Free Men. Never mind, we rail at the priests and are free men. Heinzen. But you give yourselves up without judgment and without pride to anyone who flatters you and spares your weaknesses instead of rebuking them; indeed, you let yourselves be used, under deceptive names, as enemies of freedom, as lackeys of man-hunters and office-hunters? Free Men. Never mind, we rail at the priests and are free men. Heinzen. But if a truly free man, who is free even from your freedom, passes a judgment upon you or would lead you further than to empty knocking upon an empty name, then you turn your back on him, or wish him to the devil, or make an enemy of him? Free Men. Never mind, we rail at the priests and are free men. Heinzen. Yes, so it stands, you free men, with many of you. And who bears the blame? Chiefly those who have made you free men. Among the Germans nothing is easier than to become a "great man" among "free men" by polemicizing against the priests, and nothing more convenient than to remain one. At the same time, however, nothing is more ruinous than this perpetual exploitation of a negative and at once coarse standpoint. If the mere hostility to the priests, which with many has become a regular trade, a true "business," made us free, then after the removal of the priests the fulcrum of our freedom would be lacking. We should need priests in order to show that we are free, "free men." Dedication of a Church On the second day of Pentecost, the 5th of June of this year, the "Holy Trinity Congregation" in Allen Co., Ind., had the joy of being able to dedicate its newly built church. The members of this congregation had hitherto belonged to St. Paul's Congregation in Fort Wayne. When they had grown strong enough to form a sister congregation of their own, they laid, last summer, the foundation of a church, which received the name "Holy Trinity Church." It is a pleasant, handsome frame church with a tower. Its length is 45 and its breadth 28 feet, and it has high windows in the pointed-arch form. It is beautifully adorned within with a neat pulpit, an altar, and a baptismal font, and in the spacious pews a fair number of hearers find room.— Already early in the morning of the 2nd day of Pentecost guests came from all sides of the surrounding country to take part in our joyous church dedication festival. At the beginning of the celebration the congregation and the guests present assembled in and around the nearby schoolhouse, in which divine service had been held until now. From there the procession moved to the new church. In front went the pastors, Dr. Sihler, Prof. Crämer, and the pastor of the congregation, with the Bible, the Agenda, and the sacred vessels. Then followed the congregation with the guests, singing hymn 134: "Come, Holy Ghost, etc."— As the procession entered the new church, the choir from Fort Wayne struck up the hymn: "Open wide, ye gates, etc."— Thereupon the whole assembly sang hymn No. 1: "All glory be to God on high."— After it was ended, Dr. Sihler stepped before the altar, read the 84th Psalm, and spoke a prayer of dedication. Then the hymn 183: "We all believe in one true God" was sung, whereupon the pastor of the place read before the altar the Epistle for the Church Dedication Sunday, Rev. 21, 1—5. After the dedication hymn No. 168, "Triune, holy, mighty God," was ended, Prof. Crämer delivered, before the great crowd of hearers in and outside the church, a powerful sermon on the Gospel for the day of church dedication, Luke 19, 1—10. Theme: "The sweet Church-Dedication Gospel of the salvation-bringing visit to the house of Zacchaeus." 1. As Christ then entered in with salvation, so He still enters in with salvation now through His Word and Sacrament. 2. How we are to conduct ourselves toward such His salvation-bringing visit. After the sermon was ended the pastor of the congregation again stepped before the altar, spoke the prayer of dedication, and then the celebration of the holy Supper began, in which Prof. Crämer assisted. Thereupon the pastor, in the name of the congregation, thanked Dr. Sihler for the spiritual care which he, under faithful pastoral oversight, had let it receive through Word and Sacrament for so many years, and also expressed his thanks to the kind givers who contributed their mite to the building of the church. After hymn No. 12 the choir concluded the celebration of the festival with: "Praise and adoration be to our God, etc."— May the Lord, as often as the memorial of His name is renewed also in this church, come to the assembled and bless them, and make the congregation a city of God upon a high hill, shining by pure Lutheran doctrine and pure godly zeal. Friedrich Dietz, Pastor. Dedication of a Church. With God's help the Evang. Luth. congregation in Defiance, Ohio, has succeeded in building a handsome, pleasant frame church, which was dedicated on the 9th of July, the 4th Sunday after Trinity. Professor Crämer accepted an invitation and preached the forenoon sermon on the church-dedication Gospel. In the evening the undersigned preached on Ps. 126, 3: "The LORD hath done great things for us, whereof we are glad. The singing was accompanied by 6 wind instruments. It was a joyful day for the congregation here. Many sympathizing friends from near and far had come, so that the church could scarcely take in two thirds of those present within its interior. The evening before, many members of the congregation had been very busy adorning the church outside and in, beautifully and festively. Even the English of this city praised the zeal of the German Lutherans, that they, although for the most part without means, had in so short a time accomplished the building of so beautiful a church—the most beautiful in the town. It is 32 feet wide, 45 feet long, and provided with a tower. Some women of the congregation provided the altar and pulpit hangings and the window curtains. The altar hangings they embroidered very beautifully.— May the LORD also grant the congregation a right zeal in spiritual things, give it ever more desire and love for pure doctrine, and graciously enable it to adorn the truth with a holy life. May He grant that in our new little church, where He has founded the memorial of His name, His Word be proclaimed in the future also always clearly and purely. Yes, may He, the LORD our God, who for 3 years has led the congregation through so many a conflict and has at all times given the victory to the truth, help it and all congregations of His dear Church to hold out unto the end in this last troubled and perilous time, for Jesus Christ's sake, our Saviour. Amen. A. Detzer. "Der Pilger im Süden der Union." Also in the southernmost state of the Union, in Texas, there is a number of German preachers (at present eleven of them), who have come together as a German Lutheran synod. They have for the most part come out of the preparatory institution of St. Chrischona near Basel in Switzerland, since the year 1840. The present president of the synod is a certain Mr. H. Wendt, preacher of the Ev. Luth. congregation in Galveston. This synod, to be sure, declares the content of the Confessions of our Church to be its basis of doctrine, but how greatly it must yet lack in right decisiveness and Christian, clear knowledge is evident from this, that it has had itself received into the union of the apostate so-called Lutheran General Synod here and lets itself be supported by it. The said preacher Wendt has now resolved to publish a periodical under the above title. It is to appear every month in numbers about two sheets strong. In the prospectus before us it is