# Der Lutheraner_St. Louis Missouri_1855 07 17_S185
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Der Lutheraner.

"God's Word and Luther's doctrine pass away now and nevermore."

Rev. of John, Chap. 14, v. 6. 7.

Published by the German Ev. Luth. Synod of Missouri, Ohio and other States.

Edited by C. F. W. Walther.

Volume 11.  St. Louis, Mo., July 17, 1855.  No. 24.

Terms: Der Lutheraner appears once every two weeks at the yearly subscription price of One Dollar for out-of-town subscribers, who pay 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.

Some Accounts

of the

Manner in Which, in the Years 1655 and 1755, the Memory of the Religious Peace of Augsburg, Concluded on the 25th of September in the Year 1555, Was Festively and Solemnly Observed.

In the proceedings of the first sessions of the Western District of the German Ev. Luth. Synod of Missouri, Ohio and other States in the year 1855, the following is found on pages 7 and 8:

Among the matters laid before the Synod for deliberation we place first

the celebration of the Jubilee,

in remembrance of the unspeakable benefit which was bestowed on our Church in the Religious Peace concluded on the 25th of Sept. 1555. In regard to this it was pointed out how such jubilee festivals of the Church have always brought great blessing, and how it is therefore to be hoped that this year's jubilee also, by God's grace, may become a source of rich blessing for us and for others. The Synod agreed upon as uniform a celebration of the joyful festival as possible. We here, indeed, enjoy in full measure what was given to our fathers in 1555, namely full freedom from the staff of the Pope, before whom they until then still had always to tremble. We in America, moreover, are also altogether free from the worldly popes, such as the princes in Germany so often are in their usurped dominion over the Church. Therefore we ought justly to keep jubilating on and on and never to cease to praise God for such great grace and benefit. That, alas, is not done by us: we forget, shamefully, what we enjoy and that we enjoy it daily. But now this festival and its observance are to remind us vividly of it. It is to be observed, if possible, everywhere alike, for two days with three divine services, with processions and a Christian people's festival joined to them. — In the "Lutheraner," before the joyful festival begins, very rich communications are to be furnished about the manner of its observance one and two hundred years ago, and extracts from jubilee sermons delivered at that time. — In order to draw the children also fully into the celebration, a little tract is to be printed which treats in question and answer the occasion of the festival, in an address exhorts them to the praise of God, and by small hymns and pictures makes it dear and important to them, so that it may afterwards serve them for a lifetime as a remembrance of this festival. — The Synod agreed upon texts on which sermons are to be preached in all congregations of our District on the Jubilee. These are: for the forenoon of the first day Ps. 147, 12—15, with the whole 147th Psalm and Is. 49, 14—23 as the lesson; in the afternoon: Acts 9, 31, with 1 Tim. 2, 1—6 as the lesson; for the second day Rev. 3, 7—13, with Dan. 11, 36—39 as the introduction, and Heb. 10, 32—39 and Ps. 2 as the lesson. — The wish and hope was expressed in the Synod that someone might be found who, after the celebration, would publish a memorial writing relating to it.

In order to comply with the direction herewith given us by the reverend Synod, we hereby communicate some accounts which we have drawn chiefly partly from the Weimar Acta historico-ecclesiastica of the years 1755 and 1756, partly from the so-called "Unschuldige Nachrichten" of the year 1755, partly from Kapp's "Freudiges Andenken des Religionsfriedens-Jubelfestes" and from some other smaller writings; and indeed first about the

I. Festival Services and Other Solemnities.

A. In the Year 1655.

In Saxony the reigning Elector in the year 1655 was John George I. This dear prince, at that time an old man of 70 years, of whom the praise of David holds, Sir. 47, 9. 10., had already celebrated two Lutheran jubilee festivals with his people, that of the year 1617 and that of the year 1630, and had joyfully perceived the blessing which had come upon the Church through these festivals. He therefore took it to heart to make arrangements for a general observance also of the Religious Peace Jubilee in his land. The "Instruction according to which the impending Jubilee and Evangelical Thanksgiving Festival is to be held on the 25th of September Anno 1655," which circulated through the whole Electorate several weeks before the festival, determined, among other things, the following: On the two preceding Sundays the festival was to be announced from all pulpits according to a prescribed form, and "the people faithfully admonished to hearty devotion and Christian observance of it," on the day before the