# Der Lutheraner_St. Louis Missouri_1849 06 26_S170
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

170

mercy turns on nothing but the shining dollars, that is all you know; but of that perhaps hereafter! You think I should let myself be admitted, and that you did right to join, in order to be able to form a judgment about it yourself. How? If your joining had already been sin, and a denial of your faith?

C. My joining a sin, and a denial of my faith? Indeed, you speak in riddles!

P. That I readily believe, for you have never yet looked at the matter in earnest, and reflected upon it. I say, of course: for you it was sin to join, for you are a Christian. Moreover, understand me rightly: concerning the secret societies, as worldly ones, I pass no judgment, nor on the joining of those who are not Christians, for what have I to do with them that are without (1 Cor. 5, 12. 13.), them God will judge; but concerning that which takes place among us, as Christians, we certainly have a right to judgment, and so I say once more, your joining was sin!

C. How so? Pray explain that to me plainly.

P. Gladly! and it is very simple. Did you know, before you joined, what the society was? what principles it had, what purposes it pursued?

C. Of course not, otherwise it would not be a secret society.

P. Good. You did not know, then, whether it was a society well-pleasing to God and permitted, or one contrary to God and forbidden; its principles, faith, confession, and purposes could just as well be anti-Christian as Christian; about that you had to remain in doubt, and could not take your step with full assurance of faith. But the Apostle says clearly and plainly, he that doubteth, and yet doeth it, is damned, because it is not of faith. For whatsoever is not of faith is sin! (Rom. 14, 23.)

C. It is also written: Judge not, and ye shall not be judged; condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned! Who art thou that judgest another man's servant? (Rom. 14, 4.)

P. My dear Carl, do not be angry! See, I do not judge and condemn you, but because I truly love you, as you know, I show you your judgment, and your condemnation, that you may escape it, and save yourself. God's Word judges and condemns your step, not I. If you are a Christian in deed, and not merely in name, you must follow God's Word, and order your doings and ways accordingly, and not after your own so-called "good intentions," for it is not enough that you say, I did not mean it ill. God has given us His Word as a light upon our way, so that we should precisely not follow our darkened heart. But that is the abomination among the "believers and pious" of today, that they deal so lightly with the Word, and take out only what happens to suit them, and gives them a false peace, and otherwise go by their own "good intentions," as though there were no more "deceitfulness of sin" for them. For truly, had you asked God's Word, you could not long have been in doubt about these "secret societies"; for therein they are forbidden, precisely because they are secret. But even that which is open is contrary to Christianity, and must deter every Christian from joining.

C. I must confess, I did not consult God's Word at my joining; I thought it could do no harm, I could always withdraw again, and now, since I really see nothing unchristian in it, but on the contrary so much that is good and Christian, I should not know why I should leave it.

P. Are you so sure of your case? The LORD says, John 3, 20.: Every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved; but he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God. Now if the "secret societies" have something good in mind, why are they secret? The world may form such societies, but what has a Christian to do with them? What fellowship hath light with darkness? But ye, says the LORD, my disciples namely, are the light of the world! A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick, and it giveth light unto all that are in the house.

C. Only go on in the text! "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven!" And truly, the works of these secret societies shine brightly enough into the world, and testify that not darkness, but light is with us.

P. Yes truly, there you are right! In all the newspapers, on your banners, in your festival speeches, everywhere you trumpet them forth, and adorn them in the finest manner, in spite of the best Pharisee, Matt. 6, 1. and 2. But a wagon that makes a great rattling when it goes over the pavement bears witness of itself that there is nothing on it, and an empty barrel gives a clear sound. The Pharisees also appeared fair before men, and made the people stare open-mouthed with their alms and other works, and were nevertheless in the eyes of the righteous Judge nothing but whited sepulchres full of rottenness and dead men's bones. Matt. 23, 27. I abide by the saying of my LORD: Come to the light! —

C. Well, that sounds strange to me from the mouth of a believer! Is not the whole of Christianity throughout one mystery, and does it not often come involuntarily into my mind, as though our pastors were the true mystery-mongers.

P. My dear Carl! When I found this answer, expressed in a cruder way to be sure, in some of our so excellent German papers, I was not surprised, for what does the ass know of playing the lute; but that you speak so grieves me. Do you not see the difference? Where does the Church appear in any way in a mysterious manner? The LORD says, Matt. 10, 27.: What I tell you in darkness, that speak ye in light; and what ye hear in the ear, that preach ye upon the housetops, and has thereby from the outset stamped upon all mystery-mongering in His Church the seal of the unchristian and ungodly. The holy Paul boasted that he had kept back nothing from his congregations, but had declared to them the whole counsel of God. Our preachers teach loudly and publicly from the pulpit, in the catechism, in the instruction of confirmands, in the homes; we have nothing which we keep back from any man; we have no secret purposes, no secret signs, no secret meetings! Everything is taught freely and publicly; to everyone access is open, yes, it is brought in books and spoken conversations even into the house of those who do not come of themselves, so that no one may excuse himself and say he has not heard it. Their sound is gone out into all the earth, and their words unto the ends of the world! Rom. 10, 18. Yes, the Scripture curses the preacher who does not proclaim the Word of God fresh, frank, and free. Indeed the Church teaches mysteries, that is, such things as no human understanding could have devised, but which had to be revealed to us by God, and are also revealed by Him; yes, she herself is a mystery to those who have no senses enlightened by God; but she is not secret and does not act in secret, and keeps nothing secret, but she is freely open, a city that is set on a hill, and lets her watchmen loudly blow trumpets and sound trombones, so that all simple souls who wish to flee from the wrath to come may flee thither, and hide themselves; but you form a secret society, of which one cannot know whether it is in league with the devil or with God.

C. Well, surely you will not believe that we have anything evil in mind! What, then, are our secrets? We have, of course, secret initiation ceremonies, also signs known only to us, so that one brother may recognize another, and, for example, no unworthy person may deceive us and lay claim to support, which belongs only to the brother. That is all! You surely credit me with so much that I could not remain a minute in a society which had in view any unlawful purpose.

P. You speak just as if you knew nothing of the deceitfulness of sin, Heb. 3, 13. If sin always appeared in its true shape, the Christian would be safe from it. Now I myself indeed do not believe that behind the whole