# Der Lutheraner_St. Louis Missouri_1848 10 17_S26
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

26

of a baptismal vessel it is sufficiently indicated how little value the holy Sacraments have in the eyes of such congregations, since already in the churchly arrangement of the house of God nothing reminds one of their importance; and already upon entering, for example, of a decided and intelligent Lutheran from over there into such churches, it must seem to him almost as though already in this Reformed arrangement of their church building the Lutheran congregation assented to the doctrine of the Reformed concerning the holy Sacraments, that they are merely outward, empty signs and symbols, but no essential means of grace.

But how will he feel when he attends divine service in such a church? There the minister of the Church nowhere meets him in lovely interchange and union with the congregation, in order, for example, in anointed prayers, petitions, intercessions and thanksgivings, etc., which express the common faith of the Church, to offer spiritual sacrifices to the LORD, or at the altar to dispense to the congregation the blessings of the LORD in the read Word of God, in the spoken benediction, in the administration of the holy Absolution and of the holy Lord's Supper; but a man in his black coat holds in good Reformed fashion in the pulpit, before and after the hymn and long sermon, repeated long so-called free prayers of the heart, which in the best case have the spirit of prayer, but yet hardly meet the common need of the congregation everywhere and express the faith of the Church, but rather express his personal mood and feeling, and in the worst case, however, are unsalted and unanointed meditations, which are merely clothed in the form of prayer and arouse hearty disgust and tedium. Likewise at the holy Lord's Supper the breaking of the bread takes place almost everywhere, and the unionist formula of distribution: "Christ says," and other Reformed forms.

How, then, shall confessionally faithful and intelligent Lutherans conduct themselves who, in view of this predominance of the Reformed form in the divine service of the older Lutheran congregations here, wish to come together into a congregation and establish the holy preaching office? How shall they wisely use their liberty in the ordering of public divine service? Shall they perhaps be allowed to imitate the surrounding Lutheran congregations, even though these have fallen into those Reformed forms out of ignorance, and not out of ill will?

Not so; for in any case it would be an abuse of Christian liberty to establish such ceremonies as either testify and express the falling away from the pure doctrine of the Sacraments of the Lutheran Church and the adoption of the Reformed false doctrine, as this is actually the case with the so-called Lutheran General Synod, or which at least have the evil appearance as though one were indifferent about the pure doctrine, yes, as though one inclined in fact to that of the Reformed, which is false, and aimed at setting up the godless, unscriptural Union of our days between Lutherans and Reformed, as it appears to be in almost all other synods. And which of them could escape this evil appearance if it has adopted and retains Reformed ceremonies?

Lutherans here, therefore, who know what they are and what they ought to be, and who recognize how the forms and customs of divine service correspond to the pure doctrine, but ought not to have the evil appearance of favoring the false — such Lutherans would indeed, in coming together into a congregation and in setting up the holy preaching office among themselves, very soon be agreed also concerning the ordering of the ceremonies of divine service, to introduce only such as are in accord with the pure doctrine; and so long as the reawakening spirit of confession has not yet formed in this country any particular American-Lutheran forms in the conduct of public divine service, they would naturally adopt such as the Lutheran Church in Germany, in her better time, has used as an expression of the pure doctrine, for the edification of the congregation and for the churchly discipline and training of the rising generation.

But to be sure, such Lutherans would hardly be likely to gather in a body anywhere here, unless perhaps as little congregations they emigrate from the same districts of the German fatherland.

But where this is not the case, it usually happens thus: that, for example, in a middling city, such as Chicago and Detroit, Lutherans of all sorts of degrees of knowledge and from all sorts of countries flow together, South Germans, Central Germans, North Germans — Lutherans who, besides the most diverse state of heart, the most diverse knowledge, and the most diverse accustomedness in worship, nevertheless wish to form one congregation and to set up the holy preaching office among themselves.

Where now a Lutheran preacher is actually called by them, how will he have to conduct himself with regard to the arrangement of public divine service? Will he perhaps be permitted to ordain it by virtue of official plenary authority according to his pleasure? Not so; for in this part of church government the congregation also has its share. Or will he here use his Christian liberty alone and be allowed to arrange the services according to his descent, upbringing, and habit, or according to any peculiar taste and preference of his own? Far be it. We preachers ought also in this to be examples to the congregation, to bind our liberty through love, to please our parishioners where matters indifferent are concerned and we do not thereby, even indirectly, violate the Confession. How, then, shall it now come about? In this way, that the preacher, after he has been called regularly (that is, not for a term or for hire) and on the basis of the churchly Confessional Writings, does two things. The one, namely, is that he instruct his flock more closely about the connection between the pure doctrine and its edifying expression in the forms of public divine service, and thereafter call attention to that Reformed deformity in the common worship of God of most of the Lutheran congregations here, and show how thereby the evil appearance so easily arises of also doing homage to the Reformed doctrine by adopting Reformed customs, and how here Christian liberty is not applicable, but the necessity and the duty of conscience arise, for the sake of the pure and consistent Confession, not merely to avoid the Reformed ceremonies, but also, by setting up Lutheran-churchly ceremonies, to make a confession in deed for the pure doctrine and against the false.

The other thing which further devolves upon a faithful and prudent servant of the Lutheran Church is this, that he propose to the congregation a sound, edifying form of Lutheran-churchly divine service and at the same time instruct them more closely concerning the significance of the individual parts and their connection. In this proposal he will naturally have to take great regard for the willingness, understanding, and hitherto accustomed worship of the majority of his parishioners, and it would be, for example, not wise and expedient conduct if, say, the greater part of the congregation came from Swabia, but he himself from Saxony or North Germany, that he should at once, for example, propose for immediate adoption the rich and complete altar services of the Saxon-Lutheran Church.

Supposing, however, that the pastor had fallen into such a somewhat unwise proposal, though not with intention and forethought, yet from passion and haste — how is he to conduct himself if, for example, the South Germans declare themselves against his proposal and persist also in this resistance? In my judgment his subsequent course depends altogether on how the opposition is constituted. If it is, namely, of such a kind that the opponents say nothing further than that that proposed manner of divine service is still too strange and new to them to edify them, since they are not accustomed to it in Germany and therefore wish that it not yet be introduced: then, I judge, the preacher and the other part must yield to them out of love, even if the protesters were the minority; then, according to Romans 14 and 1 Cor. 8, 9, the thing to do is to bind liberty for love's sake, provided that the people desire no Reformed or unionistic ceremonies.

But if the opposition is of such a kind that the members of the congregation maintain that this or that part of the proposed ceremonies, as for example the crucifix on the altar and the sign of the cross at the benediction, at the consecration of the bread and wine in the holy Lord's Supper, at holy Baptism and the like, is "unscriptural and papistic," as the sender of that traveler's report and Dr. Kurz and more or less probably all the whole so-called Lutheran General Synod are of the same opinion, then the Lutheran preacher must first instruct them about it thoroughly and gently, and to them