# Der Lutheraner_St. Louis Missouri_1854 10 24_S38
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

38

that this paper will be of use to us all here, and will help to clear up the views on Church and Ministry, which here also are not altogether united, and to bring them into the right track. But I have yet one request of you: Grant me now and then a little hour of time and visit me (us) with a few lines from your hand, since you surely know from experience that, next to hearty intercession for one another, nothing is so fitted to keep distant brethren in living communion of love as a brotherly correspondence. For my humble part, who in heart am still much more there than here, it shall not be lacking, for I still well remember my promise at the parting in Cleveland.

And now, dearest brother, let me for this time say to you most heartily: Farewell! May the almighty gracious GOD hold our hearts firmly bound together in the right united Christian faith with Himself, the Fountain of life and of love, and also with one another, who have become partakers of His life and of His love; and grant us according to His mercy a blessed meeting again here or before His throne! Greet, I beg you, all the dear brethren by name. May the LORD Jesus set you all there and us here in our surroundings for a blessing, and let us be found faithful before Him, in His coming! — With faithful brotherly greeting and with the most hearty love I remain, dear and beloved brother in Christ,

Your unworthy fellow-servant Baierlein.

Appeal

to all members and friends of the Ev. Lutheran Synod of Missouri, Ohio and Other States, to a work of Christian liberality.

Professor Biewend has already announced to the dear congregations of our Synodical body, in No. 2 of the Lutheraner, that in accordance with a resolution of the Board of Supervisors, by God's help the Concordia College building is to be completed and as soon as possible the middle building erected. In urging support of this work, Professor Biewend now attaches to it the following proposal: "How would it be, then, if we were to hold a day of rejoicing, still this year, soon; if the congregations were to unite upon one day on which they would take the matter to heart and lend a hand. The dear pastors might, if it so pleased, each set before his congregation what God has done for them, and what they do for God, especially in respect of our institutions of learning, and the dear members of the congregations might consider among other things the word of the Apostle: ""Be not weary in well doing.""— What a joy it would be, if every one knew that his fellow believers on the same day were taking part in one common work, and what joy indeed, when now through their common working on one day, in one hour perhaps, the same should be accomplished and the means procured to make the well deeper and wider, to prop, to dig about and to water the fruit tree which is to us all alike and equally dear."

The pastoral conference of the St. Louis District assembled at Collinsville has taken this proposal into closer consideration and, in the hope thereby to express the opinion of many brethren, takes the liberty of addressing to all dear Lutheran pastors and congregations of our fellowship the hearty request:

"That we appoint the last Sunday of this church year as such a day of rejoicing, on which we Lutherans, as many of us as live scattered here and there in all the lands of North America, from the Atlantic Ocean to the far West and from New Orleans to the far North, assemble unanimously in our churches on the first Sunday in Advent of this year and, after we have let ourselves be instructed and encouraged for this purpose by preaching from God's Word, bring to the Lord with a cheerful heart and willing hands a thank-offering and offering of joy, by gathering a collection for the erection of the middle building of Concordia College in St. Louis."

That this middle building is urgently necessary needs no proof. As a decent shelter is one of the first necessities for a family, so also for our institution an adequate dwelling. This belongs, like our daily bread, to the necessities of this life, and this the faithful God, according to His promise: "I will not leave thee nor forsake thee," will also provide. Let us therefore not be frightened at the high sum of $6000 which the middle building will cost. It is a small matter for our God, to whom all silver and gold belongs, to give us this in a short time. Only let us obey God's commandment, who calls to us in the Gospel for the 23d Sunday after Trinity, Matth. 22: "Render unto God the things that are God's." How infinitely rich, how beyond asking and understanding has God blessed us poor sinners with earthly goods, without our merit and worthiness! All that we have is indeed His gift and present. And above all that He has out of pure mercy bestowed upon us the highest jewel, the precious treasure of the pure, unadulterated doctrine of His holy, saving Word, whereby He richly imparts to us His grace, comfort, strength, life and peace. This treasure we are to preserve for our children and spread as widely as possible to God's honor and the salvation of many souls. For this preservation and increase of His kingdom God will use us poor, unworthy sinners as His instruments; it is therefore a great, undeserved honor for us that God permits us to contribute our mite to the furtherance of His kingdom, to the support of institutions of learning and to the training of preachers. And in order to allure and incite us yet more to this, God promises us that He will richly requite and reward out of grace all works of mercy, all gifts of love, in eternal life. What we therefore give and sow to God's honor, of that we shall here below already, and one day in heaven, enjoy a rich harvest of joy. "He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully," 2 Cor. 9, 6. Therefore a day of giving is for all Christians a day of rejoicing, as the Lord testifies: "It is more blessed to give than to receive."*)

*) As to the form of the collection, it is left to the congregations to determine it more closely. The conference, however, thought it advisable, if the collection took place during the week, that at the close of the service a subscription be opened, in which each one should record the sum which he is willing to give. This money would then need to be sent to the treasurer only about Easter of next year; as the building will not be begun earlier.

The dear brethren in the ministry are finally requested to inform as soon as possible the treasurer of the building committee, Mr. Roschke in St. Louis, how high the amount of their collections comes to, so that the Board of Supervisors may be in a position to take it into account in estimating the costs.

In the name of the Conference:
H. Fick, at present President
A. Biewend, at present Secretary.

The Old Church Fathers
on the Sin of Drunkenness.

Origen, born at Alexandria in Egypt, died in the year 253 after Christ's birth, writes about Lot's drunkenness (Gen. 19): "Hear here what drunkenness does; hear to what a shameful deed intoxication leads. Hear it and beware, ah! you who regard that evil not as a crime but as a mere habit: Drunkenness seduces him whom Sodom did not seduce. He is consumed by the flames of unchastity whom the fiery sulphur rain (of Sodom) did not consume." (Homil. 5. in cap. 19. Gen.)

The same: "Sobriety is the mother of all virtues, just as, on the contrary, drunkenness is the mother of all vices. Take heed that your hearts be not overcharged with surfeiting and drunkenness and cares of nourishment, and the destruction come swiftly upon you. You have heard the sentence of the eternal King and have learned the lamentable end of drunkenness and intoxication. If a skilful and wise physician were to command you with such words and say: Take heed that no one, for example, take too eagerly of the juice of this or that herb, for if he did so, this would have his swift death for its consequence— I