# Der Lutheraner_St. Louis Missouri_1849 11 27_S53
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

53

...against this Word and the rights of the hearers, if these were robbed of their right by the teaching office, to call preachers for themselves, to watch over their doctrine, and, upon wicked persistence in false doctrine or offensive conduct, finally to depose them, as it would be if, conversely, the hearers were to encroach upon the rights of the office of the ministry and, for example, were to hire and engage the preachers for a time instead of calling them properly, dismiss them at pleasure, prescribe to them the content of their sermons, do away with church discipline, draw up resolutions without them in regard to church government, and so forth.

A second proposition, or rather error, of Mr. Suhr, the hireling preacher, is this, that he maintains:

"All truly Protestant (he probably means by that all non-Catholic) congregations must every year manifest their pleasure or displeasure with their preacher by a vote."

One really does not know, in view of such words, written by a preacher who moreover has been at universities in Germany, whether one should marvel more at this so-called theologian's boundless ignorance in matters of the divine order of the holy ministry according to Scripture, or at his shameless and dishonorable servility to men; for either an ignorance disgraceful in a teacher of the Church, or slavish, belly-serving crawling before his sovereign liberals, or a loathsome, offensive mixture of both is the cause why that pitiable man has written down those no less pitiable words.

But in order to refute this gross error thoroughly and clearly for the instruction of our own readers and of other impartial and truth-loving readers, we must begin by setting aside the first error already presupposed in it, namely the one concerning the call to the ministry.

This error, however, is none other than that Mr. Suhr, and with him all the unintelligent Germans who are ignorant of Scripture, suppose that the call of a man to the ministry is really nothing more and nothing less than a kind of worldly and temporal contract of hire between those who call and the one called, in which the latter obligates himself to preach to them so and so often every year, to baptize the children and to confirm them, to administer the Lord's Supper, to marry and to bury; in return, those who call obligate themselves to give him every year so and so much in money (and perhaps also in produce). Viewed from this side, then, the servant of the Church would in fact be nothing other than a laborer hired for an indefinite time and a yearly hireling for the performance of spiritual things, altogether dependent upon the favor or disfavor of the majority of those who called him, and how he might seek to make himself agreeable to them after the flesh, but by no means to rebuke, in the pulpit or, still less, out of it, the evil works and particular sins of individuals.

But God be praised, the essence of the call to the ministry does not at all consist in this abusive perversion of its outward side here in this country. The matter stands thus:

There is, namely, in and of itself, an immediate and a mediate call of this kind. The first, which is no longer to be found at all, consisted in this, that God in an immediate manner called and enlightened the prophets and apostles, and sent forth the former for the most part to Israel, the latter to all nations, as bearers and proclaimers of His holy revelations and chiefly of the salvation in Christ, and also confirmed the truth of their testimony by wonders and signs.

In this manner, by the working of this immediate call, the New Testament Church was founded everywhere in the time of the apostles, and at the same time the Holy Scripture of the New Testament was composed, no less, by the immediately enlightened evangelists and apostles.

But afterward, and really already in the time of the apostles, as mentioned above, wherever, for example, the apostle Peter had by his preaching begotten faith in the LORD Christ in this and that group of hearers, but perhaps soon left that place again, the mediate call took place. This went on in such a way that either the believers and baptized chose one from their midst, who was sufficiently equipped by the Holy Ghost with knowledge, wisdom, and the gift of teaching, to be their pastor and teacher, or perhaps approved by general consent one proposed to them for that purpose by the apostle, but in both cases the confirmation of the one called was then solemnly performed by the apostle or apostles before his congregation with the laying on of hands and prayer.

This call, which takes place through men, and is therefore mediate, is nevertheless a divine one, even though it does not equal the immediate call in peculiar dignity and glory. That it is really and truly a divine one is clearly evident from the following:

1. First, namely, the triune God is also the first author and founder of it; for according to Matt. 9, 38. it is the Father who always and everywhere sendeth forth laborers; according to Eph. 4, 11. the LORD Christ, the Son of God, also in our day, and until the last day, appointeth the pastors and teachers; according to Acts 20, 28. it is God, the Holy Ghost, who, as He then appointed the bishops of the congregation at Ephesus, who also were called only mediately, does the same always and everywhere.

2. Secondly, God has through the holy apostles in His Word also established a rule and order, of what disposition, qualities and gifts the servants of the Church who are to be called mediately must be and be constituted (1 Tim. 3, 2—7. Tit. 1, 6—9.); how they are to preach the pure doctrine (2 Tim. 2, 12.) and to rebuke the false (Tit. 1, 7. Jude 3.); how they are to exercise the care of souls (1 Tim. 5, 1—3. 6, 17—19.) and so forth.

3. Thirdly, they are altogether divine works which the LORD also does through them, just as through the prophets and apostles called immediately by Him; for although they no longer heal the bodily blind, deaf, dumb, lame, etc., raise no bodily dead any more, cleanse no bodily lepers, yet they do all this spiritually through the preaching of the divine Word and chiefly of the holy Gospel, together with the Sacraments which accompany them, whereby the spiritually blind become seeing, the spiritually deaf hearing, the spiritually dumb speaking, the spiritually lame walking, etc., whereby further the spiritual lepers become clean and the spiritually dead become alive. These wonders upon the soul, however, are far more important and essential than those upon the body. Also through the servants of the Church who are called mediately, therefore, God converts, regenerates, justifies, sanctifies, renews and saves men, in that they, at His command and promise, proclaim His Word purely and sincerely and administer the holy Sacraments according to His institution.

4. Fourthly, God the Holy Ghost has also adorned His mediately called servants, in spite of their outward lowliness and form of a servant, with right noble and glorious names and dignities, in comparison with which all the titles and honors of worldly princes, lords and wise men pale exceedingly and fall into shadow. For God calls them His fellow-helpers and fellow-laborers in the great and holy work of His glorification and of the salvation of men; He calls them His angels, ambassadors in Christ's stead, stewards of His mysteries.

From these four points, then, it is sufficiently clear that the present mediate call also is a divine one. This being so, it follows plainly and incontrovertibly that neither will a believing candidate of the holy ministry, who knows this divine dignity of his calling, ever let himself be engaged or hired for a certain time in the American-democratic fashion, nor will a number of Christians of churchly mind, who likewise have the pure knowledge of the nature of the mediate call also, and desire to set up the holy ministry among themselves, be willing to call that candidate in that manner. Such members, for example, of the Lutheran Church as desire to call a Lutheran pastor are indeed bound to do this, with all earnestness and diligence, so far as human eye can reach, to procure for themselves a conviction as certain as possible whether the candidate meets the requirements in 1 Tim. 3, 1—6., especially whether he is orthodox, apt to teach, and of blameless conduct, and can show valid testimonials thereof from an orthodox church authority or body? Thereafter, when he has received a regular call, and not one for hire and for a time, and has accepted the same, and the solemn and public confirmation of this call before the congregation has taken place through the teaching office of the Church in the act of ordination — there-