# Der Lutheraner_St. Louis Missouri_1850 03 05_S107
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

107

58:13): If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; then shall it be called a delightful sabbath, to sanctify and honor the LORD. For thus shalt thou honor it, when thou doest not thine own ways, nor findest thine own pleasure, nor speakest thine own words. Then shalt thou delight thyself in the LORD; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it. Ezekiel speaks more at length concerning this, the chief point of which is (Ezek. 20:12): The sabbath is to be a sign, whereby the children of Israel are to know that it is God who sanctifies them. If now our sanctification consists chiefly in the mortification of our own will, there appears here a quite exact likeness of the outward sign with the inward thing itself. We are to rest altogether, that God may work in us; we are to let our own will go, give God our heart, and renounce all the lusts of our flesh. Finally, we are to cease from all the works of our own reason, that God may work in us, and we may rest in Him. That eternal rest was signified to the Jews by the keeping of the seventh day; and in order that it might be kept with the greater fear of God, the LORD commended it by His own example. For it serves not a little to spur on man's diligence, when he knows that he follows his Creator; so he was to be reminded here that the Sabbath intends nothing else than to make him like his Creator. Moreover, there is no doubt that, so far as the outward use is concerned, the Jewish Sabbath has been abolished by the coming of Christ. For He is the truth, in whose presence the types vanish; He is the body, and as soon as one sees Him, one leaves the shadows. He Himself is the true fulfilment of the Sabbath. Buried with Him by baptism, we are planted into the fellowship of His death, that we, partakers of His resurrection, should walk in newness of life (Rom. 6:4, 5). Therefore the Apostle writes elsewhere that the Sabbath was a shadow of good things to come, but the body itself, that is, the substance of the truth, is in Christ (Col. 2:16, 17). For this a day is not sufficient, but our whole course of life is required, until we, wholly dead to ourselves, are filled with the divine life. But although the Sabbath of the Jews has ceased for us Christians, yet we will account ourselves bound to the following: first, that all our life long we strive more and more to cease from our works and to let God work in us through His Spirit. Secondly, that in pious contemplation of the works of God, so far as can be done, we diligently exercise ourselves in quiet, but then also on certain days diligently attend the public church assemblies, to hear the Word of God, to use the Holy Supper, and to be present at the public prayer. Thirdly, that we grant to servants and those under us relief from labor and treat them humanely. The church assemblies in particular are prescribed to us in the Word of God, and their necessity appears plainly from the experience of life, since without them religion among us would decay and grow slack. But how could they be held, if they were not appointed for certain days according to a fixed order? The Apostle wants, indeed, that all things be done decently and in order among us (1 Cor. 14:40). This would not be possible without that appointment and arrangement; hence, if it ceased, confusion and ruin of the Church would be unavoidable. In the place of the Sabbath abolished through Christ, therefore, another day of rest had to be appointed, that discipline, order and peace might be preserved in the Church. Now the ancients have deliberately fixed upon Sunday, or the Lord's Day, since the spiritual rest prefigured by the old Sabbath attained its goal and fulfilment in the resurrection of Christ."

With this agrees also the Latin so-called Geneva Catechism, composed by Calvin already in the year 1538 and published by him, enlarged, in the year 1545. In it, namely, it is said among other things:

"Teacher: Does this commandment forbid us every kind of work?

Pupil: This commandment has a special and peculiar character. Since the observance of rest is a part of the old ceremonies, it has therefore been abolished by the coming of Christ.

Teacher: What then remains to us from this commandment?

Pupil: That we do not neglect the holy institutions which belong to the spiritual government of the church; especially, however, that we take part in the holy assemblies for the hearing of the Word of God, for the celebration of the holy sacraments, and for the public prayers, as they may be appointed."

(Communicated.)

"If Christendom is to be helped again, one must truly begin with the children." This saying of Luther's, as true as it is worthy of being taken to heart, is, alas! not rightly taken to heart, especially not in this country. For not only do most children in this land grow up "without the nurture and admonition of the Lord," on the part of their parents; but in most schools also the children do not come to know Him who has loved them from eternity and has also shed His blood for them. Therefore all parents ought not only themselves to practice Christian training of children, but also to strive that their children may be instructed in proper, Christian schools, so that in home and school a foundation may be laid and further built upon. May this be taken to heart! "For hell is not more easily earned than through one's own children." That Christendom, then, may be helped, and parents may escape the danger of neglecting their souls' salvation through the children, let one diligently keep the children at the Christian school! That this may come to pass, may God give us grace! May the LORD Himself move the hearts of all parents to it, if possible also through this

Address to Parents,

in which the reasons why they should henceforth diligently send their children to school are set before them, and their excuses and evasions are answered,

by Dr. Johann Jakob Rambach.

From an extract of Luther printed herewith you will see how the man of God already in his day made bitter complaints that some parents keep their children back from school, and thereby bring a heavy responsibility upon themselves; and how, on the other hand, he gathers all motives together to impress this duty upon parents. Since now the evil enemy in our time still makes use of this same device, that he partly instils into the children an aversion to school and to learning, and partly drives the parents to keep their children back from school under all sorts of vain and frivolous excuses, or at least to send them in very irregularly, only one or two months in the year; it is surely most necessary that this faithful admonition of Luther be diligently read also at this time by all parents who still have children not grown up; lest the blessed man appear on that day and accuse them, that they have so little esteemed the precious Word of God, which he, with so much danger and labor, has procured for them again, and have so poorly and negligently trained their children to it.

It is true that Luther's admonition goes properly to this, that parents to whom God has given boys fit for study should urge them to it, so that men may be brought up in the schools who may some day serve God in spiritual and secular offices and promote His honor. But just as not all children have the necessary aptitude for study, so also not all parents are bound to urge them to study. But it is a general duty of all parents that they send their children to school so long, and have them instructed in reading, writing, arithmetic, singing, but especially in Christianity, until they can give an account of their faith, and afterwards can help themselves forward by their own diligence. Many weighty reasons should move you to this, dear parents.

Consider, 1) that your children are a gift of God, Ps. 123, dearly bought by Christ, and sanctified to God by baptism. Therefore you are bound to care not only for their body and its food and clothing, but first of all for their immortal souls, that through