# Der Lutheraner_St. Louis Missouri_1855 02 27_S108
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

108

than that of the prophet Daniel. He sees in the 7th chapter a little horn break forth between the 10 horns of the fourth beast; this horn plucks out three of the 10 horns, has eyes like the eyes of man and a mouth that speaks great things, blasphemes the Most High and wears out the saints; it presumes to change times and law, its power lasts a time and two times and half a time. Then judgment is held, its power is taken from it, so that it is consumed and destroyed unto the end. All orthodox expositors of Scripture, Luther at their head, Melanchthon, Brentius, Aeg. Hunnius, Osiander, Calov, etc., find unanimously in this chapter a prophecy of Muhamedanism, its origin, growth and power, and its final downfall.

1. Little is the horn because of its small beginning. Muhamed himself was of lowly origin, small the number of his first adherents; 2. this little horn comes forth out of the 4th beast, that is, the Muhamedan empire arose in the time of the fourth, the Roman world-monarchy, without God deigning to call it a monarchy. For the Turk has only robbed and conquered some parts of the Roman empire, and clings to them as the disease of cancer to the human body; 3. it plucks three of the ten horns from the beast, that is, it subjugates three provinces of the Roman empire, Asia, Egypt and Greece; 4. the eyes of man signify the cunning and craftiness of Muhamed and his successors; 5. of the blasphemies which its mouth speaks, the whole Koran is full; 6. its struggle and victory over the saints is recorded by the history of the world from the 7th to the 17th century; 7. it changes times and laws. One has only to think of the Muhamedan Hegira or of Friday as the Turks' holy day, of the Koran, which puts itself in the place of the Word of God; 8. its duration is a time, two times and half a time. According to the commonest view these times are years, and indeed prophetic years, of which each day signifies a year. This would make about 1273 ordinary years. Now one may place the beginning of the Muhamedan empire either in the year of the first appearance of Muhamed, the false prophet, 611, or of his flight, 622; in either case the duration would reach into the last quarter of this 19th century; 9. finally the horn is destroyed and annihilated with the appearing of the Lord to judgment, after this destruction has begun before the final and complete destruction.

The first part of this prophecy, and indeed the greater part, has already been punctually fulfilled; should the fulfillment of the latter fail? No more than three horns can the little horn thrust off. After the Turk conquered Asia, Greece and Egypt, a standstill set in; indeed he thought to subjugate Hungary, Austria, Germany, but before Vienna he dashed his head to pieces. For 200 years the Turkish empire has been in decline, and at present „the sick man“ is kept miserably alive only by his allies, jealous of Russia; otherwise the bear of the North would already have torn him to pieces with his paws. All signs announce to the Turkish empire a near dissolution; and this irresistibly advancing epoch is a sign that the Last Day is at the door. We have now certainly nothing to wait for but the Last Day; for the Turk will not thrust off more horns than the three, writes Luther in the preface to Daniel and in his Heerpredigt wider die Türken: since yet Christ has given signs by which one is to know when the Last Day is near, and accordingly when the Turk shall have an end, we can surely prophesy that the Last Day must be at the door.

Let us leave off political tavern-talk, and heed the present cry of war and the thunder of cannon from the Black Sea as a call to Christendom: behold, the Bridegroom cometh, go ye out to meet him! One prophecy after another is being fulfilled. One piece after another of the present scaffolding of the world falls together. Soon the Lord will come and build a new heaven and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.

(Contributed.)

A Conversation about the American Messenger.*)

An Ev. Lutheran preacher in N. once warned in a congregational meeting against the reading of the American Messenger and pointed out what in it could not please any honest Christian or Lutheran faithful to the Confession. To many it became clear thereby that the contents of many articles of that paper by no means agree with the sayings of the holy apostles, of a Luther and of other faithful teachers. These therefore declared that they would no longer read it. Others, on the contrary, were not yet convinced that the Messenger contained anything so harmful and seductive, and that may have come from their having read it already for many years, and thereby having already come upon a crooked, unchurchly course. Among the former there was now a certain Ernst, who on the very day on which that meeting had been held visited a friend named Anton, who had not been able to be present; since the latter was just reading in the Messenger, this gave occasion to the following conversation:

*) This conversation had reached the editors some time ago, but had been mislaid. We hope that it still contains a word in season. D. R. d. L.

Ernst. Hast thou heard already that today in the meeting among other things the Messenger also was spoken of?

Anton. Yes. But I cannot agree with what I have heard of it. I have indeed read the paper for many years already, and do not remember that I ever found anything harmful and seductive in it. There is indeed said in it of the Lord Christ; we are exhorted to repentance, to prayer, to sanctification and the like. I should think one ought not to warn against such a paper. Whoever believes and does as it stands therein will surely be saved.

E. I grant that much good is in the Messenger, and believe also that souls who read it may be brought from death to life and come to faith in Christ. Wherever God's Word is only heard or read, there spiritual children can and will be born to God, be it that these, under pure doctrine, come to a quite sound Christianity, or, in that they are not led to the faithful holding fast of the whole Word of God, fall unwittingly into all sorts of error and perverseness and so never attain a joyful life in Christ.

A. Then thou art a friend of the Messenger? and wishest therefore also, I suppose, that it be read by very many?

E. The conclusion is drawn too soon. To be sure, I believe that, as regards unconverted people in regions where rationalism rules, one must be very cautious in warning against this paper. But in places where the pure preaching of the Word is, or where there are even only awakened and converted people, of whatever confession they may be, there a Christian faithful to the Confession will not gladly see the paper. Many may thereby be led away from the good right way, become indifferent to certain doctrines of Christianity and favorable to the beloved Union, others, however, be strengthened in their false delusion; — a harm which is seldom to be healed again, since such people are as a rule full of pride and conceit.

A. So thou really believest that in the paper, beside the good, there occurs what is harmful and seductive?

E. Certainly; and if thou hadst been in the meeting today, thou wouldst also probably have been convinced of it. At least everything that was said there was at once clear to me; as I had indeed already before become distrustful of the paper. For I heard some years ago that the writer of the paper was a Unionist or Evangelical (yea, that he had even fallen away to the sect of the Anabaptists); from that time I examined everything better that was in it, and found that the contents of many articles, in which, for instance, the Union, as it exists in Germany, was highly extolled and a brotherhood of all church parties, without unity in doctrine, was commended, would not at all agree with sayings of the holy apostles and of a Luther.

A. That is strange indeed. How could what thou heardest, that the Messenger was written by a Unionist or Evangelical, make thee distrustful of the paper and lead thee to a closer investigation and examination of its character?

E. Thou knowest perhaps not who the Evangelicals are. Thou hast surely heard already of the Union; thou wilt know that in Prussia and in many other countries the Lutherans