# Der Lutheraner_St. Louis Missouri_1855 06 05_S165
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

165

power, was almost extinguished — "a mouth" — with deeds it was over — "speaking great things" — yet it still bore the splendid titles which the might of Augustus and his successors had once attested and sealed — "and blasphemies," — all its titles were devised only to bring into currency and to protect, as the shadow of papal majesty, the blasphemous lies of the Roman whore on earth — "and power was given unto him to continue" — so that it had, as far as lay in it, come to an end: that it still "continued" was a gift of papal favor. Henceforth it played on earth as the reflection of the will-o'-the-wisp that bewitchingly flickered about the heavens in the night of papal darkness, the ever-returning — "forty and two months," — itself a play of deceitful change, of which the moons are the likeness.

V. 6. "And he opened his mouth" — seemingly to the honor of God, as the Holy Roman Empire, which with its commands and the holy ban lent the holy papacy a standing, and was itself to be regarded as one of the three walls of Jerusalem: therefore it might now boldly speak again, since before, and even now, as soon as it did not wish to blaspheme, it had to put its mouth in the dust; but in truth — "in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name" — e.g., when it treacherously threw the faithful martyr John Huss to the Roman beast, and afterwards declared Luther, and in him God the LORD, because of His name, with a brazen forehead under the ban — "and his tabernacle" — so it had to happen, since it called itself the protector of Christendom — "and them that dwell in heaven" —: upon this a woe is rightly due! (Ch. 11, 14.).

V. 7. "And it was given unto him to make war with the saints", — so the Holy Ghost mocks the titles which made the newly-baked Roman empire a strong fortress of the saints: for it was precisely by virtue of these titles that the emperors were used by the pope as beadles, to rob the true saints, such as John Huss and Luther, of all civil honors and rights — "and to overcome them" — as the blessed John Huss is one of its monuments of victory. "And power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations" — even over such as whose iron necks had not been willing to bow under the old Roman yoke; and yet it was so powerless in comparison with old Rome: therefore it was given to him.

V. 8. "And all that dwell upon the earth" — those who had the Word as a lantern to their feet: Our conversation, however, is in heaven, etc. — cared nothing for imperial ban when it came to worshipping God the LORD also by a free-spirited confession of His Word and to serving Him alone — "worshipped him" —: for if, like many in Luther's time out of fear of the imperial power, they despised the testimony of the truth, then even without bending the knee and folding the hands they worshipped not God, but imperial majesty. Before this, in v. 4, the power of the devil was given as the ground of the idolatry which was practiced with the Roman empire. Now this sin steps into a still more glaring light, when it says further: — "whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb" — for to everyone, even the weakest child, as to the most abandoned villain, the ears stand open in which the anguished groaning of the thief resounded when he prayed: "Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom!" And He lives now far more surely than when He wrestled with death on the cross. Contempt of grace and unbelief it is therefore, when in spite of such mighty help a prisoner of the devil — and his prisoners are indeed all in themselves — does not enter into God's kingdom before the dazzling and terrible splendor of the kingdoms of this world. But that no one may marvel, and no weak child of God be offended, that it goes as has been described hitherto, that under the most Christian name Christ is persecuted in his members, there follows at the close yet a reminder that this has been the course of the world from Adam's time, when it says there: — "slain from the foundation of the world."

The comforting reminder of the last verse becomes a warning for those who stand on the side of the persecutors without knowing what they do, or are held captive in the nets of the papal empire because favor and fear of the great in the world still befool them. These are awakened by the call:

V. 9. "If any man have an ear, let him hear."

What makes it so urgent that they be disturbed in their nightly rest is the danger that hangs over their heads, which on account of its misdeeds threatens the whole empire that holds them captive: for what happened to old Rome by virtue of the prophecy of the LORD ("until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled" Luke 21, 24.), that awaits the new, whose beams glow with the fire that still smouldered in the rubble when the papal empire was built upon it. That is the admonition of the following verse:

V. 10. "He that leadeth into captivity shall go into captivity, etc." — here, to be sure, where the pious suffer what awaits the godless in eternity, and judgment begins at the house of the LORD, devoted henchmen of Antichrist may well have lived unmolested and died in peace, while a Conradin had to lay his head upon the block: but yet there is no lack of examples which, like flashing lightnings of God's zeal of fire, illumined the abysses of hell even in time, into which Satan's servants have at last been cast down even from the Roman imperial throne, and if it has not gone on earth according to the above saying, yet all may trust Him, in whose mouth ever yea was yea and nay nay, that He will grant no one eternal captivity who led into captivity and did not still do penance in the time of grace, but will slay him there eternally with the sword of His mouth. Meanwhile to wait for the day of just retribution exercises the patience and faith of the sheep for the slaughter. "Here is the patience and the faith of the saints."

(Sent in by Th. Brohm.)
The Evangelical Lutheran Tennessee Synod.

For several years pleasing rumors had reached our Synod that in the southwest of the United States there existed a Lutheran synod which still held faithfully to the confession of the Lutheran Church. But they were mere rumors, and the isolated situation of this synod, like other local difficulties, hindered a closer acquaintance with it. Not until last autumn did it succeed in entering into closer, personal intercourse with it, and the readers will still remember with what joy it received our mission to it. Surely I satisfy a general desire of the readers of this paper if I give closer and trustworthy news about this synod, upon which our eyes look with great hopes, and I would have fulfilled sooner my promise given in No. 10 of this year's "Lutheraner," had I not thought that I had first to complete the oral communications made to me by the brethren there through other printed materials. Since these have at last arrived, I hasten to deliver the promise.

Already in the latter half of the last century German Lutheran congregations had formed in the state of North Carolina. Toward the year 1798 the first attempts were made to unite these congregations together with their pastors by an ordered synodical bond; but in consequence of the departure of several of the pastors the church life there fell into decay. But when after some years the congregations began to increase again, the first foundation of the Evangelical Lutheran Synod of North Carolina was laid in the year 1803. Paul Henkel was one of its first founders. The beginning was weak, yet the good cause made progress. Lutheran congregations also arose in Virginia, South Carolina and Tennessee, which joined the said synod. Since most of the pastors there had come from Pennsylvania, there existed also between the Pennsylvania Synod and that of North Carolina a hearty concord. But gradually Satan sowed tares among the wheat. In the midst of the synod two opposed tendencies formed; the one, to which the great majority belonged, was that which later found its expression and embodiment in the General Synod, and which is too well known to the readers for me to have to describe it here; the other was the strict and genuine Lutheran tendency, to which, to be sure, only a small minority adhered. By that majority, in agreement with some influential voices of the Pennsylvania Synod, the idea of a General Synod was first brought to light, pro-