Memories 14: "now grown old", "thought of written word"; not lonely

      This continues from Part 13 (Table of Contents in Part 1), a series by Prof. Ludwig Fürbringer of his personal memories of the departed Franz Pieper in the 1931 Der Lutheraner magazine.  — Now we reach the final days for our dear Pieper and learn of those who benefited so much from his spiritual leadership and friendship.

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(page 330, col. 1)

Memories of Dr. Franz Pieper.

by Ludwig Fürbringer – [6.] (Part 14 of 16)

In the long, fifty-six-year, strenuous, but also richly blessed activity, which I briefly described in the earlier memoirs, Dr. Pieper had now grown old, although he showed his age very little. Many of his contemporaries and close friends, G. Stoeckhardt, C.M. Zorn, C.C. Schmidt, G. Wangerin, and others, had preceded him. He himself had lost nine colleagues at the seminary through death over the years. Walther and the Professors G. Schaller, R Lange and M. Gunther, in later times A. L. Graebner, G. Stoeckhardt, E. A. W. Krauss, E. Pardieck and F. Bente. He himself gave most of the commemorative speeches, and he once pointed to me half jokingly, half seriously, that it was enough and we should soon carry him to the grave. Others of his long-time colleagues left the faculty; in 1923, Dr. G. Mezger [CTM] moved to Germany to the Free Church [ELFK] seminary in Zehlendorf near Berlin. W. H. T. Dau in 1926 followed a call to Valparaiso University. At Dr. Bente's funeral in December 1930 he delivered his last public address [see CTM 2, p. 81-87].

But despite a certain loneliness, which was quite natural and which one occasionally also perceived, he kept his fresh, cheerful nature to the last, also met the newly arrived younger colleagues with much friendliness and lived and worked among us as our senior, highly respected and appreciated. He often transmitted the old friendship with the parents in a fairly touching way to the children. Thus he had during his study-time (page 330, col. 2) consorted much in the family house here in St Louis and received benefits which he never forgot and in which he occasionally recalled to the children, the three daughters who married pastors of our synod (A. H. Brewer, H. Birkner, G. Möller), who but also partly preceded him.

After the Christmas holidays of the last year of study, admittedly, we clearly noticed a reduction in his physical strength, which was manifested externally, namely by a decrease in body weight. But even now he who, apart from the two times of nervous exhaustion, had never actually been seriously ill, decided only on urgent coaxing to visit the doctor. He held his daily lectures on dogmatics until March 5, finishing a certain section of it that day, and then went to the hospital in the afternoon. But it is significant that he, who had been asked so often for information and discussions on doctrinal matters, gave a clear and competent answer on March 4 to such a request. This was, as far as I know, his last letter written in ecclesiastical affairs, an answer to the Pastoral Conference of Pittsburgh and the surrounding area, concerning a passage in Walther's Law and Gospel.

Then came the days when we were hovering between fear and hope. He taught after returning from the hospital and seemed at first to be recovering, though the severe stomach ailment could not be lifted by surgery. And again it was characteristic of the man and of his truly Christian optimism and of his joyful spirit sanctified in God, when he told one of his former students visiting him: when he had laid himself down on the operating table, he had thought of the written word: “In thy presence is fulness of joy”, Psalm 16:11. 1) The doctors also gave hope that he could at least live for a longer period of time and probably also could give a few lectures. But these hopes have not been fulfilled. And personally I am convinced that Dr. Pieper probably knew that his days were numbered, of which he then spoke quite openly to me.

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1) Another of his older students, a man who has gone through some difficult experiences and is still going through them, wrote to me: “In your last article on Pieper, you have the blessed doctor say to a student: ‘You must get another face; a Christian must always be cheerful.’  Truly Pieper’s way! [or ‘Pieperly’] I too have noticed this and have anointed my head and face with the oil of gladness and taken my harp from the willows.” [Psalm 23:5 ; Psalm 137:2]

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      Fuerbringer uses the term "nervous exhaustion", not "nervous breakdown" that Th. Graebner used in his biography of Pieper. One thing is certain – Pieper did not die by "nervous exhaustion" or a "nervous breakdown".  In his final days, he thought of "the written word", just like... Martin Luther on his deathbed.  I would then quibble with Fuerbringer's description of the "loneliness" of Pieper for the teacher always walked with God, and therefore was never lonely. To the Lutherans in the LC-MS – are your teachers and pastors telling you to do likewise... or not?  — We hear more of the last words that Franz Pieper spoke to his Missouri Synod... in the next Part 15...