Lehre und Wehre St. Louis, Missouri — November 1894, Seite 344

German transcription machine transcription, uncorrected

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344 —Kirchlich-Zeitgeschichtliches.

Krankenpflege widmen wollen. — Luther sagt in den Schmalkaldischen Artikeln
S. 325: „Weil die Klostergelübde stracks wider den ersten Hauptartikel streiten, so
sollen sie schlecht abe sein. . . . Denn wer da gelobet ein Klosterleben, der gläubet,
daß er ein besser Leben führe, denn der gemeine Christenmann, und will durch seine
Werk nicht allein ihm selber, sondern auch andern zum Himmel helfen; das heißt
Christum verleugnen.“ Die raison d' étre eines Klosters mit obigen Gelübden kann
eben keine andere als die Selbstgerechtigkeit sein. Die Anglicanische Kirche, welche
einen päbstischen Unrath nach dem andern in ihre Mitte als ein wiedergefundenes
Heiligthum aufnimmt, verliert offenbar allmählich den — einer protestan⸗
tischen Gemeinschaft und verrömelt immer mehr. F. B.
General-Synode. Wie völlig das Verständniß für Luther und wahres Luther⸗
thum und damit überhaupt jeglicher Sinn, zwischen Christenthum und grober
Schwärmerei zu unterscheiden, vielen in der General-Synode abhanden gekommen
ist, geht auch hervor aus der Parallele, welche der Lutheran Observer“ zwischen Lu⸗
ther und Booth, dem General der Heilsarmee, zu ziehen sich nicht scheut und schämt.
In der Nummer vom 9. November heißt es in dem genannten Blatt: „The visit
of General Booth, of the Salvation Army, to Philadelphia during the season
in which we commemorate the birthday of Luther, naturally suggests some
points of resemblance and difference between their work as reformers, and
affords somé featureés from which to indicate a parallel in their caréers.
Luther began his work by exposing and denouncing the errors of doctrine,
the perversions of Scripture, the usurpations of authority, and the various
corruptions and abuses that prevailed in the Church of his day under the
Roman hierarchy. — Geneéral Booth began his work outside of the Church
for the purpose of applying practically the principles of the Gospel or the
teachings of Christ to the poorest of the poor, the most vicious, debased and
criminal classes of mankind, whom the Christian Church of the present day
— both Protestant and Catholic — largely if not entirely neglected. — Luther
encounteéréd the hostility and opposition of the papal hierarchy, with its
prelates and priesthood, and the ban of the Vatican and of the Empire, with
the persecutions which imperiled his safety and life. — Gen. Booth encoun-
tered the sneers and ridicule of the secular and the religious press, re-echoed
by the ministers of all denominations and by the religious people of the
churches, who regarded his noisy methods as in shocking bad taste, and
a violation of all the proprièties and decorum of religious worship. — Luther
by his firm reliance on the Word and protection of God, and the courage
with which he maintained the absolute supremacy of that Word over all
human traditions and authorities, won the favor and approval of the princes
of Germany, who protected him in his work of enlightening their subjects,
and thus enabled him to carry on the great Reformation of the sixteenth
century, which next to the Advent of Christ marks the most important era
of progress in the history of the human race. — General Booth, in spite of
the ridicule, the opposition, the misrepresentation and calumny of the press
and the ministers, persisted in his work of rescuing the poor and perishing,
the vile and satanic, from the hells and infernos in which they sweltered
and rotted in sin and shame, digging them, as it were, out of the horrible
pits and the miry clay, pointing them to the Lamb of God that taketh away
the sins of the world' — thus transforming them into newness of life, and
putting a new song into their mouths, even praise unto our God. — By per-
sistent perseverance in this neglected field of work among the poorest and

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