# Der Lutheraner_St. Louis Missouri_1849 09 18_S16
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

16

But soon the cramps and the dangerous watery evacuations increased, which no remedies applied could check. Then strength and voice grew weaker; yet he was still able to say Amen to short, forcible sayings of comfort and of kernel from the Holy Scripture and little verses of hymns, which I recited to him from time to time, to strengthen his faith and refresh the struggling soul, as for example: "Christ is my life, and to die is my gain"; "I am the resurrection and the life," etc. "If a man keep my saying, he shall never see death." "Christ's blood and righteousness, that is my adorning and my robe of honor," and so forth. A special joy, however, he had in the saying 1 Tim. 1, 15: "This is a true saying, and a very precious word, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners"; at these last words his countenance was transfigured, and the following: "of whom I am chief," he still spoke along with me in an audible voice. Afterward he still charged me to greet his betrothed; and when he could no longer speak, he still several times gently bowed his head, thereby to attest his Amen to the comfort of the Gospel. When his end drew near, he directed his eyes straight toward heaven and fell asleep gently and blessedly in his LORD and Saviour.

Three times had I cried above in my little chamber to the LORD, that, if it were possible, this cup might pass from us, but yet was able to still my soul with and in the third petition; and this good, gracious will of God alone it is that can quiet also now the hearts of us all.

The next day the beloved remains, after we had all still been lovingly refreshed by the deep, quiet peace of God that lay upon his countenance, were buried with the rites of the church under a peach tree in the seminary garden, amid the hearty sympathy of the congregation that had streamed together, and on the 13th Sunday after Trinity his funeral sermon was preached upon Rev. 14, 13:

"Blessed are the dead which die in the LORD from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labors; and their works do follow them."

A mighty movement and shock went to and fro through the whole congregation, and many sincere tears flowed to his memory; for my parishioners all loved him heartily.

My heart, however, and the hearts of my young friends have been struck by his departure with a deep wound, which is healed only by believing submission to God's will and by the joyful hope of finding him again hereafter with the LORD, if we only persevere in faith, and of rejoicing there with him eternally after a short separation in the beholding of God with unspeakable and glorious joy, and of receiving the end of our faith, the salvation of souls.

So let this report of his death serve for notice to all brethren in office at a distance, but particularly to those who were formerly pupils and disciples of the departed, who from closer intercourse had also come to know, love and esteem him, and in part still stood in correspondence with him.

As if in a foreboding of his speedy homegoing, and prompted by Luther's counsel in his Sermon von Bereitung zum Sterben, he had drawn up his last will on the day before his departure, in which also his love for the seminary especially declares itself; for more than half of his small property, likewise his horse and other things, he has bequeathed therein to this his dear foster-child.

The conclusion of his testament runs thus: "Now I commend all the dear ones whom I leave behind me living into the fatherly faithfulness and keeping of our God, who has given to them and to me His beloved only-begotten Son for Saviour and Redeemer, in whom I believe and through whom alone, yes, through Him most certainly, I hope to be saved; for this is a true saying and a precious, worthy word, that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief."

The LORD grant us all to die the death of this righteous man, and let our end be like his end. Amen.

W. Sihler,

Lutheran pastor and teacher at the seminary.

Let every one look not on his own, but on that which is another's. Phil. 2, 4.

In the Seven Years' War a captain of cavalry was ordered to forage (to go out for fodder). He rides off at the head of his company and betakes himself into the region which had been assigned him. This was a lonely valley, in which one saw nothing but wood and brushwood. There he becomes aware of a poor little hut, knocks, and an old man with a white beard comes out of it. "Father," says the officer to him, "come along and show me a field where my men can get fodder for the horses." — "This very moment," answered the old man. And now he went with them down into the valley. After they had marched a while, they come to a fine barley field. "Now, there we have what we are looking for," says the captain. "Only wait one moment more," says his guide to him, "you will surely be content." — They march on still farther, and come to another barley field. The troopers dismount, mow the grain, bind it in bundles, and mount their horses again. Thereupon the captain says to his guide: "Good old man, you have made us ride so far without need; the first field was better than this." "That is quite true," answered the old man, "but that did not belong to me, but this one, to which I have led you, does."

Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Ex. 20, 8.

The grandfather of the late Duke of Brunswick was a great lover of the chase, and in this regard not seldom visited the game-rich Harz. This happened once also on a Sunday, although according to his own edicts hunting on Sunday was forbidden under a heavy fine. Meanwhile the old duke wished nevertheless to make it good, as it were, with his preacher at Blankenburg, in whose neighborhood the hunt was being held, by attending divine service on the very same Sunday, although he came a little too late. He feared on that account, indeed, the reproofs, even if veiled, of his consistorial councillor, to which he was already accustomed; but this time he kept silent, and the duke believed at the end of the sermon that he had escaped all reprimands, when the consistorial councillor drew forth the lengthy edict of the duke against Sabbath-breakers, and read it aloud word for word, together with the penal statutes contained in it. The duke, a man mild by nature, did not take this ill of the clergyman, but rather sent to the preacher the very fines which he had to pay by the edict on account of the hunting practiced on Sunday. The clergyman accepted the money and sent to his sovereign a receipt to this effect: "that he had duly received the fines to be paid by right by his Serene Highness on account of the hunting offence on Sunday."

Church News.

To our great joy we can hereby inform the dear readers that the congregation at Chester, Randolph Co., Illinois, which was orphaned by the death of the dear Brother Buttermann, is now again provided with a shepherd. It has, namely, chosen the candidate Mr. Michael Eirich, who until the synodical convention recently held had completed his theological studies at the Fort Wayne seminary and had passed in it publicly his examination pro candidatura, as the successor of the late Buttermann in the office, whereupon the one called was ordained at Chester on the 10th inst. by P. Lehmann, with the assistance of P. Strasen, with obligation to our Symbols, and was inducted into his office. May the dear Eirich water just as faithfully what his faithful predecessor planted, and the LORD give His increase, and so both one day hold a rich harvest.

Conference Notice.

The St. Louis District Pastoral Conference holds its convention this year in St. Louis from the 12th to the 15th of next month. This for the notice of those concerned.

Books and Pamphlets to be had at the Expedition of the Lutheraner at the prices appended.

Dr. Martin Luthers kleiner Katechismus, unveränderter Abdruck. $0.10
The dozen $1.00. One hundred copies $7.00.
Merkwürdiger Brief einer Dame, welche im Jahre 1703 der ev.-lutherischen Religion halber mit sechs meist unerzogenen Kindern ihr Vaterland und all' ihr Hab und Gut verlassen hat. 0.05
The dozen 50 cts. 25 copies $1.00.
Dr. Luthers Sermon von „Bereitung zum Sterben“. 0.05
Die Verfassung der deutschen ev.-luth. Synode von Missouri, Ohio u. a. Staaten nebst einer Einleitung und erläuternden Bemerkungen. 0.05
The dozen 50 cts. 25 copies $1.00.
Erster Synodalbericht der deutschen ev.-luth. Synode von Missouri, Ohio u. a. Staaten v. J. 1847. 0.10
Zweiter Synodalbericht derselben Synode v. J. 1848. 0.10
Dritter Jahrgang des Lutheraner v. 1846—1847. No. 8—26. 0.50
Vierter do. v. 1847—1848 (complete). 0.50
(The 1st and 2nd volumes are out of print.)
Christliches Concordienbuch, d. i. Symbol. Bücher der ev.-luth. Kirche, New Yorker Ausgabe, in embossed leather binding. 1.25
Gespräche zwischen zwei Lutheranern über den Methodismus, (in pamphlet form) 2 copies. 0.05
Dr. M. Luthers Tractat von der wahren Kirche (printed separately from No. 9 of the Lutheraner), 2 copies. 0.05
Dr. Luthers Hauspostille, oder Predigten über die Evangelien auf die Sonn- und Festtage des ganzen Jahres, New Yorker Ausgabe, bound in calf. 2.00
Kirchengesangbuch für ev.-luth. Gemeinden, published by the local ev.-luth. congregation U. A. C., bound, the copy. 0.75
1 dozen $8.00 / 100 copies $62.50 for cash payment.
A B C Buch, New Yorker Ausgabe, the copy. 0.10
By the dozen. 1.00
Der Hirtenbrief des Herrn Pastors Grabau zu Buffalo (more fully announced in No. 17 of the Lutheraner). 0.25
(The price stated for the latter in Nos. 21—25 of the preceding volume is a misprint.)

Printed by Arthur Olshausen,
Publisher of the Anzeiger des Westens.