# Der Lutheraner_St. Louis Missouri_1855 07 31_S194
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

194

reading and the 149th Psalm as the sermon text; instead of the Epistle, on the morning of the festival day itself the 138th, and instead of the Gospel the 125th Psalm was to be read and preached upon. The text prescribed for the afternoon festival service was Isa. 49, 7—13.

In Saxe-Coburg the jubilee texts were 1 Kings 8, 56—58, and the 46th Psalm. — In Hamburg the principal text was the 95th Psalm. — In the principality of Gotha, Ps. 147, 12—15. 19. 20. and Phil. 3, 5—11. — In the archbishopric of Magdeburg the 122nd Psalm. — In Arnstadt Isa. 54, 6—8. 26, 1—8. — In Lindau 5 Mos. 32, 7. — In the Reuss territories Ps. 66, 1—6. and Sir. 50, 24—26.

B. In the Year 1755.

A hundred years ago the form of announcement prescribed for Saxe-Gotha was as follows:

"Your Christian love is hereby to be informed that, when the LORD our God, through His servant Dr. M. Luther, caused the doctrine of the Gospel that makes blessed, greatly obscured under the Papacy, to be purified again in the year 1517 from its soul-destroying errors, and the confession of this pure doctrine was publicly read before the Roman Imperial Majesty and all the estates of the Empire in the year 1530 at the Diet of Augsburg, the papal side thereupon employed all cunning and power to suppress this holy doctrine again, so that it did not even refrain from accomplishing this by force of arms and in the year 1546 stirred up a dangerous war of religion. Although it now seemed as if, in and through this war, it would be all over with the true evangelical religion, yet the divine goodness so directed the heart of the Imperial Majesty that he made a treaty with the evangelical estates at Passau in the year 1552 concerning religion, and then on the 25th of Sept. in the year 1555 established at the Diet of Augsburg a complete religious peace, which afterward was confirmed anew also in the year 1648 in the Westphalian peace settlement. Since now the LORD our God, as a God of peace, has in mercy preserved this precious jewel of the religious peace to us up to now for 200 years, and there is just cause to acknowledge and praise it with a grateful heart, His Serene Highness, Prince and Lord, Lord Frederick, Duke of Saxony, our most gracious dear Prince of the land and Lord, has resolved and ordered to have a solemn festival of jubilee and thanksgiving celebrated in His principalities and lands on the next coming Thursday, God willing, being the 25th of Sept. of this year 1755, in remembrance of the religious peace granted by God on that day 200 years ago. Your Christian love is therefore hereby informed of this and at the same time heartily admonished that on the said day it diligently present itself, forenoon and afternoon, at the devout hearing of the divine Word, and celebrate this jubilee festival in a Christian and festive manner with praise, glory and thanks to God for the religious peace bestowed and hitherto preserved, and with fervent prayer for the further continuance of the same also upon our posterity, and that it refrain at the same time from all mischief and unseemly behavior in the streets and in the houses; to which end the LORD our God be pleased to grant His grace and blessing, for Christ's sake. Amen."

A hundred years ago people preached almost everywhere on the same texts on which they had preached two hundred years before. Most frequently, besides those just indicated, the following were made the basis of the jubilee sermons: Acts 9, 31. 1 Chron. 13, 18. Isa. 52, 1—10. 45, 6. 7. 2 Pet. 1, 19. Col. 3, 15. 1, 19. 20. 2 Cor. 13, 11. John 8, 31. 32. Rev. 12, 7—12. Ezek. 37, 26. 27. Psalm 100, 2—4. 2 Chron. 15, 2.

IV. Jubilee Festival Sermons.

A. In the Year 1655.

In the Reuss territories a paper was prepared by the Consistory and sent to every preacher, in which instruction was given to them as to how to preach at the jubilee festival and to which points above all the hearers were to be directed. According to this, on the basis of Psalm 66, 1—6. 1., there were to be set forth: "the wonderful great benefits and marvelous works of God, which He has especially now for 138 years done and shown to His dear Church," which was to be "compared with the works which David praises in the words of the Psalm, especially with the leading forth of the Israelites out of the heavy house of bondage of Egypt into the promised land." In this connection mention was to be made of: a. the work of the Reformation, 1517; b. the work of the Confession, 1530, and c. the work of peace, 1555, and how wonderfully God, after many tribulations, and when just everything seemed lost, let it come to this. The religious peace was to be set forth: "as a fair great tree, under which the Evangelical Church has hitherto been able to dwell free and secure and to render God its service, as is fitting, until this hour. Secondly, there was to be set forth: "the vain attempts and undertakings of the enemies of the religious peace" (by Pope and Jesuits — the Thirty Years' War), and how, in spite of these, the Augsburg religious peace was confirmed and established by the Westphalian peace settlement of 1648. Thirdly, there was to be shown wherein a "worthy celebration of this Evangelical Jubilee" consists, namely a. in an enlightened contemplation of the works of God, b. in joyful praise and glory of God with rejoicing and jubilation ("not alone with mere words, but also with instruments and all manner of stringed music," which David calls "singing praise"), c. in holy adoration of God with fervent supplication for the preservation of the precious religious peace. — In the afternoon, after Sir. 50, 24—26., there was to be set forth: Our Jubilee Festival — 1. a festival of remembrance and thanksgiving; a. who shall give thanks? All; b. when shall all give thanks? — Now, now! ("It is high time that we once consider and recognize what we have had hitherto in the salutary religious peace," etc.); c. why and for what shall one give thanks? Because the LORD does great things in all the ends of the earth, especially to us. 2. A festival of prayer; wherein one should pray a. for a merry heart; b. for outward, inward and eternal peace; c. for the indwelling of divine grace; d. for deliverance from all evil. 3. A festival of repentance, for without repentance no jubilation, singing and praying can please God.

In Dresden the then Deacon J. A. Lucius, afterward Electoral-Saxon Court Preacher in chief, set forth on the basis of Isa. 49, 7—13: "Jubilee Devotions of the Evangelical Church;" their subject is threefold: "1. the suffering, misery and danger of the Lutheran Church; 2. the salvation that has befallen her from God, and 3. her festival of jubilee, joy and thanksgiving."

B. In the Year 1755.

J. F. Ernesti, Superintendent at Arnstadt, set forth on the basis of John 8, 31. 32.: A Portrait of an Evangelical Christian actively thankful for the true doctrine and the freedom of conscience and religion obtained: 1. according to his renewed resolve to abide by the truth; 2. according to his continued diligence to grow in the truth; 3. according to his awakened zeal to walk ever purer and holier according to the truth."

Gottfried Posselt, town pastor in the Baden-Durlach territory, set forth on the basis of the 46th Psalm: "The present year as a true year of jubilee and joy of all true and genuine Lutherans, in that in it, 200 years ago, 1. a dangerous war of religion was ended and 2. a salutary and lasting religious peace was concluded and established. The application was: 1. We should therefore rejoice heartily over this precious jewel; 2. thank the God who can very soon turn swords into plowshares, childlike for it; 3. trust in God when the sea rages and swells even in our days; 4. stand fast in our faith, like our old heroes of faith, unto our end."

G. C. B. Mosche, preacher at Erfurt, set forth after Acts 9, 31.: "The Blessing of God upon the Proper Use of the Days of Church Peace: 1. wherein this proper use consists, namely that after the example of the first confessors of JESUS one "be edified," that is, become ever firmer and more unshakable in the faith that JESUS is the Savior of the world and the only-begotten Son of God, hence the only ground of salvation, and that one walk in the fear of the LORD; 2. how great is the blessing of the LORD that attends such proper use, in that both a spiritual and a bodily blessing follow upon it."

In Gotha the General Superintendent there, Urban Löw, preached on Ps. 147, 12—15., and set forth: "Praise and Thanks for the Lord of Peace on His Great Jubilee Festival, 1. the duty which lies upon us herein; it is a. a general one, b. a special one for believers, c. a holy and important duty, 2. the benefits which here-