# Der Lutheraner_St. Louis Missouri_1855 01 30_S93
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

93

new confession those matters of indifference subject to Christian liberty, such as the so-called apostolic church orders, a particular form of liturgy, episcopal church government, uniform congregational regulations and the like, as binding articles of faith and obligatory matters of conscience, and accordingly to injure and suppress in an unevangelical manner not only the doctrine of Christian liberty but also that of justification; and where this apple of the eye of the evangelical doctrine is so injured that something else is inserted between Christ's merit and the penitent sinner than the Gospel, which the sinner is to appropriate in faith as altogether sufficient and fully effectual for his justification before God: there men no longer build wood, hay and stubble upon the foundation, Christ, but there is error also in the foundation of faith, there a breach has been made in the foundation wall of the evangelical, that is, Lutheran Confession, there is no longer the voice of the Church, as pillar and ground of the truth, yea, there is in deed and truth added to the sects already existing, which so pitifully rend the body of the Church in its visible appearance, a new one, to the increase of misery. To be sure, it would here remain with the comforting word of St. Paul, 1 Cor. 11, 19, "For there must be also heresies among you, that they which are approved may be made manifest among you." For supposing that this unevangelical and therefore also unLutheran tendency, although under the Lutheran name, were to gain the upper hand in Germany, and this indeed very dangerous current were to sweep along many, yea the most, by the prestige of men's names: yet by this the genuine and true sons of the Gospel and of the Lutheran Church would become manifest all the more decidedly, and, gathered in close-ranked phalanx about the banner of the good old Lutheran Confession of the Fathers, would fight the good fight of faith also against the so-called Neo-Lutherans and false brethren; and since this Confession, in spite of old and new contradictors, in the two articles on Church and Ministry also gives the right exposition and setting forth of the evangelical doctrine of Holy Scripture in proper coherence with the other articles of the wholesome doctrine: so it must, even with the possible minority of its adherents, nevertheless keep the victory. —

3. He falls ever deeper into the danger of self-willed action, that is, chiefly in the carrying out of his so-called "churchly thoughts," that is, of his unchurchly and unLutheran pet fancies, which have already been mentioned several times above, as though by their realization "the Church of the future" were being built and a firm dam here in this land were being raised against "the democratic current." — The historical proof of his already increasing self-willed action, however, we can furnish; for although between him and our delegates in the late autumn of 1851 the establishment of a teachers' seminary had been discussed, in order to help our Synod therein, yet this purpose was not kept in view, but this seminary, which, for the union of several teaching forces and for smaller expense in its establishment, could most suitably have been erected at Fort Wayne, came into being at Saginaw City under the direction of Mr. Großmann, who now, certainly not without the knowledge and will of Mr. Pastor Löhe, who was then seeking to establish a "church-law" fellowship with Michigan pastors who already belonged to our Synod, assumed a distrustful position apart against the Synod, and finally, at Pastor Löhe's bidding, departed with his seminary for Iowa, although most of the pupils, without any summons from our side, remained behind and afterwards accepted school positions in our Synod.

And this seminary is now, according to Mr. Pastor Löhe's report, in Dubuque, Iowa, to become "the outward and inward center of surrounding Lutheran congregations," that is, Mr. Großmann — now also a pastor — an enthusiastic admirer of the person and writings of Mr. Pastor Löhe, whose Aphorisms, as already mentioned, are his symbolical book — this man, with his actual immaturity but blind admiration of the Löhean "churchly thoughts," is to, wants to, and will work with energetic fanaticism for the spread of the individual-Löhean Lutheranism.

4. He comes ever more into the danger, in consequence of his increasing self-willed action, with the aid of his friends enthused by him, of suffering harm in the inward simplicity and sincerity of the heart; for it cannot but happen, as the history of the Church abundantly shows; whoever, namely, in the manner mentioned, falls upon such or similar so-called "churchly thoughts," and is thereby inwardly led astray in knowledge "from the simplicity that is in Christ," falls in carrying them out also upon all sorts of human means and expedients which stand in no way in Christian accord with righteousness and love.

To these means now belongs, for example, already the offer of Mr. Pastor Löhe mentioned earlier, to enter into "church-law" fellowship with him, addressed to pastors in Michigan and members of our Synod; further, his separate position with the teachers' seminary in Saginaw; further, the instilling of distrust toward older members of our Synod into such brethren as were about to come over from Germany to serve our Church and stood in connection with him; and indeed not only in more recent time but already earlier: for he knew well that those older members were not particularly favorable or attached to his "churchly thoughts," and much less to their execution; and hence it came about that, in consequence of all sorts of gossipings and immature or untrue letters sent across by his adherents, he conceived distrust toward them and instilled it also into others, without ever having asked them openly, honestly and brotherly about the real substance of the matter, and, where needful, rebuked them to the face. Yea, hence it came about that the later and especially the last two brethren, who were sent over by Pastor Löhe and his friends 1½ years ago into the seminary at Fort Wayne, were expressly warned against us and our doctrine. Is this done honestly and sincerely, in a Christian and conscientious way? Mr. Pastor Löhe and his friends knew very well that for us the doctrine of the Church and the Ministry and their coherence was no longer an "open question," as indeed, in substance, it has long been closed by our churchly confession. Why then do they send the two young men into a doctrine which appears to them erroneous and contrary to Scripture? Should they not have more earnestness in their conscience, though confessionally erring, so as not to send unfounded and uninformed people to where they may be seduced? Do they no longer believe the word of St. Paul, Gal. 5, "A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump"? That is, if we really err in those two articles, then our whole doctrine can no longer be pure; and how can they, with a good conscience, send us over even one, who would possibly, yea probably, fall to our, that is, in their eyes, erroneous doctrine? And was not by the above warning distrust sown from the outset against the institution at Fort Wayne, which yet received the new arrivals with hearty confidence and in the presupposition that they brought the same, with joy? Would not, without their being specially worked upon, the power of the truth and the knowledge of the coherence of the evangelical doctrine, also from those two articles, have won the victory over them, so it might easily have happened that they, later, when they had entered the service of the Church, would have spread not the Lutheran but the Löhean doctrine of Church and Ministry in their congregations.

God be praised that they, without any particular human interference, but by the simple presentation of the truth and according to the testimony of the Symbols, became disloyal to the person (of Pastor Löhe), as through the power of the truth it has also, by God's grace, happened in sincere hearts with the brethren sent over earlier, over whose supposed disloyalty to him Mr. Pastor Löhe, as we hear, in his farewell address to the last emissaries to Iowa so bitterly complained and exhorted these latter to better loyalty to him.*)

Ah! that — this is our sincere

*) How very differently it reads in the "General Instruction" which Pastor Löhe and his fellow-signing friends gave on the 15th of February 1845 to several brethren sent over. There, namely, § 2 reads thus: "They subscribe freely and without persuasion, also without reservation, upon oath, all parts of the Lutheran Book of Concord. They confess that, according to the measure of their knowledge, they find the pure doctrine of the divine Word laid down in the same, that they have found nothing in the same, neither great nor small, which would contradict the Word of the Lord. Should, which God forbid, a different conviction ever fall to their lot, they will apply all earnestness and diligence to get to the bottom of the truth, and lay down their Lutheran ministry if they have wrestled in vain to restore their agreement with our Concord. Also in this case they will retain no Lutheran school office."

So stood Pastor Löhe almost 10 years ago, and how does he stand now! Wherein then consists the lamented disloyalty of his former pupils toward him? In this, that they have remained faithful to this their obligation and to the cause of the churchly confession, but he not. —