# Der Lutheraner_St. Louis Missouri_1849 05 29_S153
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

Der Lutheraner.

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

Published by the German Evangelical Lutheran Synod of Missouri, Ohio, and other States.
Edited by C. F. W. Walther.

Volume 5.  St. Louis, Mo., May 29, 1849.  No. 20.

Terms: Der Lutheraner appears once every two weeks at the yearly subscription price of One Dollar for out-of-town subscribers, who are to pay for it 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, moneys, etc., are to be sent hither under the address: Mr. F. W. Barthel, care of C. F. W. Walther, St. Louis, Mo.

(Submitted by Dr. Sihler.)

Hearty Admonition to Lutheran Fathers of God-fearing and Gifted Youths and Boys, Not to Withhold Them from the Service of the Church and School.

It is, alas, a fact as well established as it is sad, that especially here in the West so very few young people who have the disposition and gifts for one day taking up the holy office of preacher or teacher present themselves at the respective seminaries and seek admission and instruction there.

Here in our seminary at Fort Wayne, for example, since the time of its founding, in October 1846, only one native-born Lutheran German-American has presented himself to this day; the other 26, who have partly already entered the service of the Church and partly are still with us, have all, with one exception, been sent over to us from Germany by dear brethren in the faith; only this one is the son of a farmer who immigrated 12 years ago and has since died.

If we now ask whence it comes that, for example, in Ohio, Indiana, and other States here in the West, there are not more youths to be found (whose fathers have perhaps already immigrated here ten years and more, or were even born here and have remained German) who would offer themselves for the service of the Church and let themselves be trained for it, we can give manifold answers to this.

The one, for example, runs thus: Here in our still thinly populated and sparsely settled regions there is still far too much room and opportunity to till the land or to set up mills, tanneries, stores, and so forth, whereby, without excessive exertion and with tolerable skill and luck, in no very long time many a pretty little sum can be earned, with which one can then extend his business still further and "make money" still more, and become a man who is worth a great deal. What tender father, then, who from the heart serves the great god Mammon, to whom almost all America and the "whole world renders divine service," — what tender father should not direct all his diligence to this, that all his sons should be "well off" as early as possible and also become worshippers and adorers of the same god.

Another answer is this: The dear ministry in this country yields far too little honor and pay; for, says this or that father to himself and to others, any day-laborer has more income than such a poor bush-pastor, and with all his labor and poverty he must moreover pocket from so many unteachable and stubborn heads all manner of rudeness and blasphemy, and has ingratitude for thanks as his wage. If he will not trim his cloak to the wind and be no hireling and servant of men, he is plentifully fed with the bread of tears and given gall to drink, and is, like Moses, "a most plagued man above all men upon the earth". Such a troubled and toilsome life, however, I would gladly spare my son.

Added to this — such a father goes on — the so-called old-Lutheran pastors have a twofold burden upon their necks; for if they desire, as is right, that their churchly manner of acting be in accord with the confession of the Church, and insist, after thorough instruction beforehand, for example, upon a regular call, upon proper announcement for the holy Supper, and will not administer it, for example, to Reformed people as such, and maintain church discipline according to Scripture, and so forth, then they have friend and foe alike upon their necks, and are decried as the narrowest-hearted, most obstinate, and most loveless people, however patient and humble, however self-denying and self-sacrificing they may be, however diligently they provide for church and school, and mean well by young and old with all faithfulness. —

Now, my dear father, who perhaps have a God-fearing and gifted son and so speak with yourself or with others of the holy ministry, what you say there is indeed true, yet you have spoken only carnally, and not according to the heart of God and out of the Spirit and Word of God. For, behold! the kingdom of our Lord Christ, and indeed not merely the Church triumphant in heaven, but also the Church militant on earth, is not of this world, although the latter is indeed in this world, and there the true servants of the Lord Christ neither shall nor will have much honor and pay from this world; it suffices them fully and abundantly that they have honor with God, who calls them His "laborers together" and "fellow-helpers" in the blessed labor of converting poor sinners to the Savior, of making of the accursed blessed ones, of the banished and rejected citizens with the saints and of the household of God, of damned slaves of the devil blessed children of God and joint-heirs with Christ. This honor from and before God bows them deep into the dust, that they, who are by nature also vile, stinking sinners, who of and from themselves can do nothing but sin — that they, after they themselves have by grace, through the service of the holy ministry, been converted to the Shepherd and Bishop of their souls — that they should now themselves be ambassadors in Christ's stead, the mouth and the hand of God to men, angels of the LORD of Hosts, stewards of the mysteries of God, successors of the prophets, of the Lord Christ, and of the holy apostles. Thereupon they count it also pure honor with God, when they are counted worthy to suffer shame from the world for Christ's sake, and fear much rather to receive praise and pay from it than hatred and contempt; for the world lieth in wickedness and loveth only its own. But as the faithful servants of Christ seek their honor with and before God alone, and not with the false, faithless world, so they seek no reward from this either, but with the pious and faithful God alone, who has promised them so glorious a twofold reward of grace. This, however, is first on earth every soul thoroughly and rightly converted, through their service and office, from the power of Satan to the Lord, and afterward in heaven a special glory, as it is written: "The teachers, however, shall shine like the heaven's