# Der Lutheraner_St. Louis Missouri_1855 06 19_S172
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

172

love is cultivated, flourishes luxuriantly and gaily, and will continue to flourish, this can and will indeed only take place if we also give good heed to the second part of the apostolic admonition, and

2. see to it that we hold fast together in One mind and in the same judgment.

The outward unity of speech is built upon the inward unity of mind, and this upon that of faith, and without the latter would be only a hypocritical one, invalid before God, condemned, like the Union of the present time, which indeed neither speaks the same thing, nor is of One mind, at least not according to Christ, nor of One faith, so that it might more properly be called a conspiracy than a union.

Well! beloved in Christ, what earnestness the dear Apostles have in this exhortation, the frequent repetition proves. Their epistles are filled with it. They point at the same time to seeking this unity of mind as a precious gift of God. "God grant you to be like-minded one toward another according to Christ Jesus." Yea! the prophets of the Old Testament proclaim it as a special promise of grace for the time of the New Testament. "I will give them one heart and one way," says the Lord through the prophet Jeremiah in the 32nd chapter. "I will give you a concordant heart," says he through the mouth of Ezekiel, chapter 11. Christ says that he shall therefore be lifted up, that he may gather together the children of God, not into one place, into a visible kingdom, but into One faith and One mind. His last prayer to his heavenly Father before the beginning of his last suffering goes to this, that "all believers may be One, as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be One in us." This shall be the mark for the world, and lead it also to faith, that "Christ was sent of the Father." This oneness he calls the glory which he has given them, "that they may be One, even as we are One, I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in One." Of the believers in the time of the Apostles it is said: The multitude of them that believed were of One heart and of One soul; and to this day the Church sings and praises the grace and gift of the Holy Spirit, who "keeps the whole of Christendom on earth in One mind, right well."

And although the world laughs at such boasting, when it looks upon the external Christendom splintered into so many sects feuding with one another, although the believer himself, at this sight, may often become faint-spoken, faith sings it nevertheless with great confidence and certainty; so it is and cannot be otherwise. The believers in all times and in all places, whether they triumph as the perfected righteous in heaven, or here on earth still fight under the banner of the cross, have all only One mind, they are even today One heart and One soul.

And how can it be otherwise? Is not to all alike the old worldly and fleshly mind, with its deadly fruits, most bitterly made loathsome in repentance, so that they hate it and strive against it? Has not in all alike, in the new birth, One new divine light and One new divine life arisen, through the blessed knowledge of Jesus Christ and the believing grasp of his all-sufficient merit; so that they have not only the same spiritual knowledge, the same spiritual judgment, the same delight in divine heavenly things, but Christ himself, the light and life of men, has entered into the heart of them all as their light and life, their only treasure and crown, the delight of their heart, their only love, glory and praise? since He lives, works and rules in them all, yea is their heart and the life of their life, how could they be otherwise than all together like-minded according to Christ? how love anything else than him? how seek anything else than to please him? how strive after anything else than to hallow his name, to further his honor, and to extend his kingdom? Their heart and mind is filled with the One alone, their aims and endeavors, their deliberations, plans, strivings and actions — all in and about them is directed only to the One goal: Christ and his kingdom.

In the world we indeed also often find the same mind and the same aspirations: those of like mind also often unite in an outward fellowship, but an inner fellowship of heart and love does not always lie at the bottom, yea where it is found, it is only the fellowship of natural love, that is, of selfishness, and so long as this finds its account, only so long does the fellowship last which it founds.

Quite otherwise with the believers. With them the outward fellowship is only the expression, the consequence and fruit of the most intimate fellowship of life and love, which embraces also those believers most intimately whom it does not personally know, yea who perhaps, from ignorance indeed, are found in the ranks of those who fight against it. For Christ, who lives by faith in their hearts, is himself the eternal divine glow of love, which fuses them together not only with his own in the most intimate love, but with all others in whom he dwells.

Blessed and praised be the eternal love which has also been shed abroad in our hearts in Christ Jesus by the Holy Spirit in right, true, living faith. Blessed and praised be the Lord, who through it has bound us together in so lovely, so richly blessed an outward fellowship, that we in truth stand together in One faith, and therefore in One mind, in One love, in One endeavor and in One work. May he now also work in us all, that with fervent prayer and holy earnestness we obey the admonition of the Apostle: Hold fast only together in One mind and in the same judgment.

The word which the holy Apostle uses in this exhortation points us in many ways to that to which we must especially give heed. It is otherwise used of the resetting of a dislocated member. Thereby he reminds us of the intimate relation in which we stand to one another as members of One body, of the unnaturalness that one member should be against another, of the distress which he causes who would fall out of the concordant mind and faith and thereby cause divisions. For such a one is like a dislocated member, which is not only itself unfit for the functions incumbent on it, but besides is a hindrance to the whole body, and causes it such great pains and dangers. He reminds us thereby of the caution which we are to use, of the attentiveness and the helpful offices which we owe one another, that in spite of the natural firmness of the joints and ligaments, by which the members are united with one another into One body, yet through neglect of the necessary and due care a member may not come out of its socket, and cause such damage to the whole body, of the natural labor of love also, which is to be shown to such a dislocated, loosened member, to bring it again into place, whereby one at the same time does oneself the most important service, for if One member suffers, the others suffer with it. All this we are now constantly and steadfastly to lay up in our hearts, that we may take good heed of the mighty enemies of this concord, the outward as well as the inward, for we have the devil still against us, the world about us, the flesh upon us. And this is not only sluggish and unwilling to keep such concord, but contains already in itself everything which, unless the most vigorous resistance is offered, must necessarily destroy it; conceit, envy, suspicion, bitterness, wrath, scorn and hatred, in a word, selfishness, which, unconcerned about the weal or woe of others, looks only to itself, seeks itself, and, fanned by the devil and his helpers in the world, very easily breaks out into the bright fire of passion, which then indeed consumes the bond of peace and of concord. All this we must deny, crucify, sacrifice through the love of Christ, and on the other hand cultivate and tend the noble fruits of the Spirit, which are: true, pure humility, which gladly gives honor, seeks none, and when it comes unsought, is only the more humbled by it; hearty love, which is at once forbearing, peaceable, placable, gentle, patient and long-suffering, which even when it must rebuke and strike wounds, carries with it always the little oil-flask of gentleness. Only by this, that through daily renewal we with great earnestness put off the old man with his works, and put on the new, which after God is created in Christ Jesus, will the One mind and the right concord be preserved among us all. In daily repentance the fire of divine love is kindled anew in the Christian heart, in it the ground on which our fellowship of love rests and is held together by love is laid anew more deeply and made firm, that in matters of faith no new strange, and so false opinion, interpretation and understanding of the Scripture truth may break in, which would at once, even if with great pains and terrible sorrow, rend our fellowship asunder.

For why, beloved brethren, do we stand so firm together and cannot from one another