# Der Lutheraner_St. Louis Missouri_1855 07 03_S181
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181

in 24 hours a week, which we divide among ourselves, they have been instructed, since the beginning of this year, in the following subjects: in the catechism, in the German and English languages, in arithmetic, in world history, in geography, in drawing and penmanship, in piano and violin playing, and in singing.

We have indeed had a little burden in this, especially as some of us also had to look after our own parish schools. But we have also had One who carried it with us, yea, rather for us. Therefore we are not afraid of more, either. And you, dear brethren, should likewise not be afraid, but take courage and help bear it, through the same One who, as He bears heaven and earth, so also will bear the weak human heart in every good undertaking, since it is indeed His own.

We have also already taken care of a proper lodging for pupils who may come. Of our present pupils four (those from out of town) are already placed in the dwellings of Pastors Lochner and Fleischmann, and so those who yet come hereafter shall likewise be received there. The quarters are already available, and still more can be added.

Thanks be to the Lord! He has helped hitherto. He will help further also. We rejoice over His grace. And you, the called fellow-helpers, should rejoice with us.

Yea, dear friend, Luther's word holds: "Thou mayest rejoice from thy heart and be glad, where thou findest thyself in this, that thou art chosen of God, with thy goods and labor, to bring up a son who becomes a devout, Christian pastor, preacher or schoolmaster, and hast thereby brought up for God Himself a special servant, yea, as was said above, an angel of God, a true bishop before God, a savior of many people, a king and prince in Christ's kingdom and in God's people a teacher, a light of the world." Find thyself in this. Then thou wilt also gladly find thyself in our work and our work in thee. May God grant it. Amen. —

Lochner.
Dulitz.
Fleischmann.

Milwaukee, June 1855.

What the Methodists Regard the Christian Doctrines of Faith and the Sacraments To Be

Thus it is said in the Cincinnati "Apologete" of the 26th of April of this year, edited by Mr. Nast: "When the light of truth shone so bright and clear into the dark power of popery at the time of the Reformation, the enemy of truth fell into distress and sought to turn the eyes of men away from the one thing needful to side issues, which he succeeded in only too well, and from this arose the disputes over doctrines of faith, especially over the sacraments, Baptism and the Lord's Supper, and then also over church usages, whereby the many divisions arose, which could not strengthen the spirit of love, which is the element in the divine kingdom. The confession of the LORD under all circumstances, true love to Him, who purchased us with His blood to be His own possession, and the complete surrender of the heart to Jesus Christ, as well as a spirit of love that embraces all fellow-men and would bring them to its Lord and Master, these are the marks by which the Christian recognizes the Christian, be the outward, the form in which he moves, what it may."

Here, dear reader, you have a picture of Methodism in miniature. The "doctrines of faith" and "sacraments" are to it "side issues," and yet "the confession of the LORD under all circumstances and true love to Him" are to be the main things! What kind of confession of the LORD must that be, which regards the doctrines of faith as the indifferent "outward," as the "form" in which the confessor moves? And what kind of love to the LORD must that be, which declares it a side issue, not worth a struggle, whether one teaches rightly or falsely concerning Christ's person and the means of grace instituted by Him? That honest people too may fall for a time into error over all this, especially through crafty seducers, that is explicable. But what is one to think of men who regard these most weighty matters as side matters and publicly give them out so? He who lets himself be beguiled by such people, with his ground of faith it must look sorry.

How "Hymn-Improving" Turns Out

To the 120 Theses of Dr. Stier: "Whether alterations or none in the church hymn?" a valiant champion of the pure and unaltered form of the hymns, Gymnasium teacher Scholz, has lately set up antitheses of an armored kind. In the noteworthy little work *) he relates a story which is so significant that it well deserves to be made known also to the circle of Pilger readers.

*) Antithesen etc. by Hermann Scholz. Gütersloh, Bertelsmann 1855. P. 29.

The late Oberconsistorialrath Dr. Theremin, one of the collaborators on the so-called new Berlin hymnal, came one day to the court preacher Otto von Gerlach and exclaimed: "I declare that the Berlin hymnal is my worst work, and I will have nothing more to do with it." To Gerlach's astonished question how it came about that he suddenly rejected a work which he had so decidedly defended only half a year before, Theremin replied: "That I will tell you."

I have a little country seat in the Uckermark near Gramzow, whither I sometimes withdraw in summer for recreation. There the peasants then visit me. Lately an old peasant comes to me and asks me in his guileless Low German whether it was true that I had worked on the new Berlin hymnal. He could not think it of me.

I: "Indeed I did, my good man. Why so, what displeases you in this book?"

He: That there is so much in it made different. There is a hymn I am especially fond of, in which it stands:

"Death is dead, life liveth."

And in place of it there stands in the new hymnbook:

"Death fleeth, life conquereth."

I: Well, my good man, that is quite as good, I should think. Consider only: "Death fleeth" — is that not true, and beautiful?

He: No, Mr. Oberconsistorialrath, we can by no means be content with that. For if Death flees, then he can also not come again. But that is not true.

By this proof Theremin felt himself disarmed. From this one example he gained the conviction that there is nothing in the improving of church hymns, and that one thereby, without knowing or wishing it, lays hands on one of the holiest possessions of the Christian people.

Would that all who walk in like errors might be as accessible to the truth where it meets them, even were it from the mouth of a peasant, and as ready, with self-denial, to confess the error! —

L.

(From Ehler's Kirchenblatt.)
Spiritual Stirring in Turkey

Surely many among us have thought, when he heard of the bloody war which the Turks are waging with the Russians, and in which Christian nations give aid to the adherents of Mohammed against a Christian people: God will cause also this alliance of Christians with the Turks, who in themselves indeed are repugnant to the Christian mind, to prosper to the growth of His holy kingdom. He who has had such believing thoughts will rejoice to learn that it has happened and is happening as he believed. — For thus writes a credible eyewitness from Constantinople to a friend in Germany:

"Now you will also want to know what influence these war and popular movements exert upon the kingdom of GOD. To the praise of GOD we may boast that the LORD is doing great things and seems to have yet greater things in preparation. Never yet has there been so much religious freedom here. Never yet have the Mohammedans bought, openly sought and read the Holy Scriptures as now. Never yet have they entered so willingly into religious conversations with experienced Christians. Never yet have they confessed so freely, as many already now have done, that Christ is the true Prophet and Mohammed the false. Never yet have the women declared themselves for the truth, or even been able to declare themselves. Never yet have the Turkish Ulemas or learned men confessed: with their book (the Koran) it is over as yet. Never yet has so lively an interest been awake among the Jews as now. Never yet have the Greeks asked after the Gospel as