# Der Lutheraner_St. Louis Missouri_1855 02 13_S97
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

Der Lutheraner.

"God's Word and Luther's doctrine pass away never and nevermore." Rev. of John, Chap. 14, vv. 6, 7.

Published by the German Evangelical Lutheran Synod of Missouri, Ohio and other States.

Edited by C. F. W. Walther.

Volume 11.  St. Louis, Mo., February 13, 1855.  No. 13.

Terms: Der Lutheraner appears once every two weeks at the annual subscription price of One Dollar for out-of-town subscribers, who pay for it in advance and bear the postage. — In St. Louis each single number is sold for 5 cents. Only those letters which contain communications for the paper are to be sent to the editor; all others, however, which contain business matters, orders, cancellations, money, etc., are to be sent here under the address: Mr. F. W. Barthel, care of C. F. W. Walther, St. Louis, Mo.

(Contributed by Pastor Röbbelen.)

The Revelation of St. John.

The Seventh and Eighth Chapters.

Continuation.

The Eighth Chapter.

V. 1. "And when he had opened, etc. — there was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour." By so much the higher are the assaults esteemed in heaven which the church suffers from false doctrine. By so much the greater also is the protection which the children of God have to expect against it from that quarter. They have need of it also in such perils more than in bodily tribulation: for the latter at last moves even men to compassion and powerful assistance, but the world mocks at spiritual distress. As comforting as the first verse is from this side, so earnestly does it also admonish to watching and prayer. The silence which reigns in heaven is at the same time a hint to those who confess on earth that their conversation is in heaven, to take heed with all diligence that they be not ensnared.

V. 2. "And I saw the seven angels which stood before God" — these are the spirits of false prophets, who according to divine judgment are to receive room, and as devils are very willing thereto, yet wait for the beckoning, when God will grant them to do harm. Cf. 1 Kings 22:21; Job 1:6. "and to them were given — seven trumpets" — that is, it was now permitted them to destroy. The seven trumpets are seven new heresies. Herein also the devil mimics the Israel of God. The church, he preaches, has become a heathen Jericho: like Joshua I assail it with the blast of trumpets, which will drown out all other preaching and so mightily stun the hearts that they will at last surrender themselves to the new holy spirit, whose gifts are to be understood under the number seven.

V. 3. "And another angel," etc. The other angel is again Christ, cf. Chap. 7:2. He intercedes for the saints, who meet the devil's new assaults with prayer. This happens before the trumpets of false prophets may sound, to show that God first equips his elect before the devil may undertake anything against them.

V. 4 and 5. "And the smoke, etc. — voices, and thunderings, and lightnings, and an earthquake." The prayer of the saints has great power for Christ's sake, is the sense of the fourth verse. This proves itself in the church by glorious gifts of the Holy Ghost: that is what the parable of the fifth verse signifies. Thus the teachers of Christendom can obtain free scope, mouth and wisdom, when there are true prayers. The images, however, under which the rich horn of plenty of spiritual gifts is presented, which Christ poured out upon the church at the prayer of his sighing people, prove that in such times especially powerful sermons of repentance are held: for they are taken from Sinai.

V. 6 ff. The first four heresies, according to Luther: 1. Tatian, etc. Self-chosen holiness not only hindered the living fruits of faith, as indeed faith itself could not subsist with it, but also withstood purely human virtue and killed natural life (e.g. abstinence from the married state). The tyrannical cruelty of this heresy is represented under the figure of hail, fire and blood. Its devastating influence is mirrored in the burnt trees and the scorched grass. That the creature of God, instead of being sanctified by the Word and renewed from the service of sin to the godly use of earthly gifts, was murderously destroyed in man, the devil thus by such enthusiasms satisfying his lust for murder especially upon the bodily, is indicated by the words "fell upon the earth." If one wished to pursue the sense of the parable still further in detail, the trees, besides being emblems of the fruits of faith, might signify, in contrast to the grass, the nobler impulses of human nature which unfold in civil life, while the grass, which nourishes the beasts, would represent the sensual needs of the children of Adam.

2. Marcion, etc. —: a burning mountain. If the former set up self-chosen holiness and thereby fell away from the Word of God, these were led astray by secret revelations, dreams and the like, which with enthralling glow kindled many souls. In such wise they went into the sea, that is, they presumed, without regard to any bond of the Spirit, much less to the rule of faith, to fathom the depths of the Godhead. That they the death therein