# Der Lutheraner_St. Louis Missouri_1850 02 05_S91
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

91

land! They have everything they need, fine fields, gardens, and houses; but the most valuable and most necessary thing is lacking to them, namely church and school. Is it not a fact that outrages every Christian heart, that many a little town in the country, with an abundance of beer-houses and drinking-houses, has no church and school? That comes about because no one is willing to lay hand to it, but each would rather leave the care of it to another. Must not the blood of all those souls who might have been rescued by the preaching of the divine Word come upon those who, whether out of contempt or indifference, would do nothing toward the setting up of the preaching office?

Gebh. I cannot gainsay that. It is inexcusable how often whole settlements live on like the heathen, without preaching and Sacrament, and let the poor youth run altogether wild.

Gotth. Now see, you commit through your "standing by yourself" the very same sin from which those crying evils come. But let me adduce still more. The Church has also other important purposes which one alone, without the cooperation of other Christians, cannot attain. There must be institutions in which the preachers are trained and educated for the service of the Word.

Gebh. Yes, indeed, this is especially needful here. For those who come over from Germany cannot fill the lack, and are also for the most part infected with the poison of unbelief that prevails at the German universities —

Gotth. and, you may add, the Methodist converters roaming about the country are of such a kind that they bring the preaching office into utter contempt, since they are quite uneducated laymen who hardly know the first letters of the divine Word, to say nothing of their having a thorough knowledge of the pure doctrine.

Gebh. But how are such institutions, which accomplish anything solid, to come into being here? The state does not concern itself about it; other sources of support from capital, landed estates, and the like, such as were at hand in Germany, are also lacking here. If now the mostly poor and small congregations are to raise the costs for it out of their own means, it will be hard.

Gotth. Not so hard as you think. If only every Lutheran Christian considered the importance of the purpose and the great blessings that proceed from it, there would be no need of worry; for then he would gladly give out of his means what he was able. For the sake of earthly bread, more is probably done. I have myself, for example, experienced that when once in a small town the steam mill had burned down, it was in a short time, merely through the contributions of the surrounding farmers, built up again finer and larger. But Christians know that infinitely more depends on the heavenly bread; why should they not be able to do the same, yes, even more? But I must still ask you one thing: Do you hold it to be the duty of every Christian to see to it that the Gospel be preached to the heathen also?

Gebh. That is a strange question. Of course every Christian who knows that in One alone is salvation and blessedness must wish from the heart that these poor children of darkness also may come to the knowledge of their Saviour JESUS Christ; but the care for it does not rest upon one alone.

Gotth. Certainly not. It is the common care of the Church, which is to let its light shine also in the poor blind heathen world. You see again from this that the most important purposes of the Church cannot be attained without the cooperation of all her members. You cannot, to be sure, go and preach the Gospel to the heathen, but as a member of the Church you can, in fellowship with others, work toward this, that they also, the heathen, may become partakers of the grace and salvation which you have in Christ. You will not take it amiss if I ask you once upon your conscience whether you have already done anything for the Christian institutions of learning or for the poor heathen?

Gebh. I have indeed not thought of this thus far, and therefore have also done nothing yet. But I also could not yet have done much, for I have not been long in the country, and then, as you know, it goes hard at first; I hope, however, that it shall become better hereafter, and then I too shall not remain behind.

Gotth. But what if you had already remained far behind others who out of their poverty have willingly offered for God's Word? Think only of the poor widow in the Gospel with her two mites. That was a great offering before God. It betokens poor gratitude toward the precious gift of the Gospel when one will first wait until one can give out of one's abundance. And how much of the abundance is given, that one sees well enough; for the most part scarcely a few miserable crumbs fall off for Christ. For show, splendor, eating, drinking, and all manner of luxury no costs are spared, but for the noble, precious treasure of the divine Word even the smallest costs are too much. How very differently might the Word of God be furthered if avarice and ingratitude toward the Gospel did not shut up the hearts. Jacob gave God the tenth of all that He had given him, and did not thereby become a poor man; yes, even the covetous Pharisee (Luke 19) could give the tenth of all, and now many a one cannot give the fiftieth. Yes, many withdraw from church fellowship merely because they fear they would have to give something.

Gebh. It is wrong of me, I confess it, that I have done so little for God's Word. I am ashamed that I have been so negligent and indifferent in this point; yet, believe me, I did not neglect my joining the Church on the ground that I might have to give nothing. For it is more blessed to give than to receive, that is also my principle.

Gotth. Well, is there then something else that has held you back?

Gebh. Well, yes — but I would rather not touch upon it.

Gotth. Do say it honestly, what harm is there in it? Perhaps you are making yourself an unnecessary scruple?

Gebh. Well, I will say it. It cannot please me at all when one concerns himself so much about another and sets himself up as judge over another. This wretched speck-judging seems — you will not take it amiss — to be very much the custom among you; every step and pace is so closely observed, every word so sharply watched, that when one once commits a fault, he soon draws upon himself a sharp rebuke.

Gotth. You are afraid, then, of brotherly reproof? That this is something burdensome and disagreeable for your old man, I readily believe. But must I first prove to you from God's Word that one ought to deny inborn pride and haughtiness, and willingly and humbly let oneself be reproved, yes, that brotherly reproof is like a precious balm? for Ps. 141:5 reads: "Let the righteous smite me; it shall be a kindness: and let him reprove me; it shall be an excellent oil, which shall not break my head." Is the falseness of the world dearer to you, which flatters you to your face and slanders you behind your back, than the sincerity of true friends and brethren, who look to your soul's salvation and for that very reason reprove you when it is necessary?

Gebh. I would gladly let myself be reproved from God's Word; but this I cannot bear, when every trifle is brought to the pastor, namely by such impure souls who seek thereby to put themselves in favor with him.

Gotth. And do you really think that an honest servant of God hears such slanderers and ear-blowers? On the contrary, they will deserve with it not favor but disfavor; for the upright pastor will send them home with the earnest direction to follow the rule of Christ, Matt. 18:15, and earnestly to reprove the erring brother between the two of you alone, before they presume to carry his faults further abroad.

Gebh. Yes, if the reproving took place in the order as it is written in Matt. 18:15 ff., I would gladly submit to this order, but where does that happen!

Gotth. So it shall and must go in a Christian congregation, otherwise it is sin and abomination before God. And if it does not go so, then every member of the congregation has not merely the right but also the holy duty to reprove the whole congregation for it.

Gebh. What do you say? One alone is to reprove the whole congregation? I should like to see the congregation that would put up with this.