Plague 3- Starck's Prayer Book, Pieper edition (Pt 3)

My mother's copy of Starck-Pieper-Concordia Prayer Book

      This continues from Part 2 in a series (Table of Contents in Part 1) of Old Missouri devotions during a time of Plague or Pestilence as we are experiencing with the Coronavirus or COVID-19. — As in the previous post, I bring another devotional book in my mother's possession that I discovered after her passing many years ago.  It is the 1921 CPH Starck's Prayer Book, From the German Edition of Dr. F. Pieper, and it is available for viewing on Archive.org >> here <<. Her copy had many clippings from other devotional materials that were inserted at various places.   Some words were underlined.  That makes it special for me. The embossed cover of her copy is shown at right, along with images of the author Johann Friedrich Starck and editor Franz Pieper.  This edition was an English translation of Pieper's German edition by Prof. W.H.T. Dau. Dau had to make substantial substitutions for all the rhyming portions, such as the hymns, because of the difficulty of translating these from the German. — What makes this edition so special is that it was edited by Pieper, the greatest teacher of Christian doctrine in the 20th century.  We will make note of Pieper's editing from his added phrase in the devotion below, the highlighted portion in green.

There is much more to say about this edition, including a comparison with the 2009 revised CPH edition of William Weedon, but that will be covered in a future post.
      For now I would highlight Starck's devotion that directly addresses the current situation in the world today, a "pestilence".  I am using only Dau's translation for the devotional portion, but for the prayer-poem and the hymn, I am adding my translation of Pieper's German edition.  Dau's edition can be viewed directly on pages 502-505 here, Pieper's German edition is here.

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The Believing Christian Prays in Time of Pestilence.

EXHORTATION.

But it shall come to pass, if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the Lord, thy God, … that all these curses shall come upon thee and overtake thee. … The Lord shall make the pestilence cleave unto thee, until He have consumed thee from off the land. … The Lord shall smite thee with a consumption, and with a fever, and with an inflammation, and with an extreme burning, and with the sword, and with blasting, and with mildew; and they shall pursue thee until thou perish. Deut. 28:15, 21-22.

When wrath, tribulation, and anguish is come upon those that do evil, Rom. 2:8-9, contagious diseases and pestilence must certainly be included in that anguish. To a large extent this plague comes, (1) when men put no faith in the word of warning and admonition, Num. 14:12; (2) when men serve God only outwardly and not with the heart, Jer. 14:12; (3) when they even put God out of their minds entirely by their disobedience, Jer. 24:10; 27:9; (4) when they despise the servants of God, Jer. 29:17; (5) when the people become bold and unruly, Ezek. 14:19; (6) when fornication and murder are rampant, Ezek. 33:26-27; (7) when no admonition to repentance is any longer heeded, Amos 4:10; (8) on account of adultery, Num. 25:9; (9) on account of blasphemy, 2 Kings 19:35; (10) on account of pride, 2 Sam. 24:15; and also on account of other sins. Now, when this chastisement is inflicted by God, it is necessary that men repent, because the Lord suffers Himself to be entreated according to His mercy; hence David from among three plagues chose this one rather than the others.

PRAYER.

O Thou strong and mighty God, great is Thy wrath against wilful sinners, who will not let Thy benefactions lead them to repentance. For a time Thou dealest with men like a loving father, who seeks with much patience to draw his disobedient children to himself, but afterwards, when men wantonly abuse Thy grace, Thou manifestest Thyself as a stern Judge. We, too, are experiencing this now, O just God; we hear that in many places a contagious disease has appeared, which devours many thousands of people, so that there are corpses in nearly every house, and there are not enough hands to bury them. We are consumed by Thine anger, and by Thy wrath are we troubled. Have we not strong reasons to fear that Thou wilt send this spreading contagion also into our borders and our city”? O jealous God, we need not think that those on whom Thy heavy rod is now descending are sinners above the rest; rather we must confess that we all deserve to perish like them. There is found among us security, contempt of Thy Holy Word, stiff-neckedness, dissipation, fornication, unrighteousness, voluptuousness, and pride. Yea, there is scarcely any fear of God in our land; the godly man ceases, and the faithful fail from among the children of men. If Thou, Lord, shouldest mark iniquity, O Lord, who shall stand?

O Lord, Lord, when Thou saidst, Seek ye My face, my heart said unto Thee, Thy face, Lord, will I seek. [Ps. 27:8] Thou hast no pleasure in the death of the sinner, but that the sinner turn from his way and live. Therefore, we abhor ourselves and repent in dust and ashes. Do not look upon our manifold sins; graciously pronounce us not guilty; succor us in our distress, and remove all punishments from us. We have sinned with our fathers, we have committed iniquity, we have done wickedly. Command the destroying angel who is wielding the sword of vengeance to cease, and say to him, It is enough. Let us live, and we will glorify Thy name. Though we do not deserve any mercy, yet we are in need of it. Though we are all children of death, yet Thou hast promised the penitent that Thou wouldst exercise mercy instead of justice towards them.

Oh, grant us Thy grace and life, for Jesus’ sake, our only Mediator and Advocate. Have mercy, have mercy upon us, O God of mercy! Be gracious unto us; spare us, good Lord; be gracious unto us; help us, good Lord, our God. Have mercy on the poor and afflicted who have been seized with this violent pestilence, who must suffer hunger and grief, who are destitute of all nursing care, and forsaken by all men. Lead them to the knowledge of Thy grace in Christ, Thy dear Son; aid them with Thy comfort, and let Thy Spirit witness unto their spirit that they are God’s children, though they may have to die of this plague. O Lord, hear our prayer; protect our fatherland, and we shall say: The Lord hath done great things for us. Yea, Thou canst deliver all who come to Thee.

(Starck-Pieper original, translated) O Lord God, by your faithfulness Appear to us with comfort and salvation Prove to us your great mercy And do not punish us in the act; Attend us with your kindness,  Your wrath and fury be far from us. Amen.

(Dau substitution – rhymes) What God wills, that I am willing.  Can I ever say Him nay?  Fire and flood His deed fulfilling  Making for His feet a way.  Ah! God’s yea and nay shall be  Ever yea and nay to me.  What God wills as to correcting,  That shall always be my rule.  Why should pupil make objection,  Sitting in the Master’s school?  Flesh and blood the stroke would shun,  Still I say, God’s will he done.  What God wills when I am praying,  As to measure, time, and term,  I can trust e’en His delaying,  That may be His glory’s germ.  Give He many, give He few,  What have I with that to do? Amen.

Hymn (Starck-Pieper original, translated) 1. What great fear and heartache  Let us experience from God now,  In these miserable times.  Hovering in agony,  And nigh, O horrible judgment,  In the face of the strangling angel  Tremble and shake! [Pieper omitted 2 of Starck's verses] 2. Righteous God, Thou hast caused  Us to hear and all but see,  And speaks thereby: Come, see!  So shall it be with you,  When you are aware of your iniquity,  Who made me angry,  None will soon stand.  3. Oh, yes, the great security  No one can nearly describe it,  One knows of no piety,  Everyone is adrift.  Of lies, deceit, debauchery,  Contempt for God, hypocrisy,  And so one wants to remain.  4. Wilt thou, according to the measure of our sins  Bind the sharp rod,  And our wickedness, envy, and hate  Together with other grave sins  Punish with plague and pestilence,  Of which thou wilt make us hear much,  Alas, who shall find grace?  5. O God, we fall at Thy feet,  Oh, Father, spare, gentle!  With tears we repent heartily  Before your mercy seat;  Remember not what we have done,  And yet look at us in mercy.  In Christ, Thy Son.  6. In Jesus’ wounds would we Wrap ourselves in faith,  We bring blood here before Thee,  For the sake of this blood  Thou wilt to the poor show mercy,  Can alone this hot blood  Quench the wrath’s flood.  7. Grant us fresh air And give us life,  Banish the poisonous scent of plague;  If thou wilt grant us this,  So let heart, mind, and mouth  Lift up praise and glory to Thee  With a thousand thanks.

Hymn (Dau substitution – rhymes) We know not how, o God, that Thou wilt move  Thy great, eternal majesty to prove. Not only in the sunshine of this life, But in its darker hours, and times of strife, E’en then we see Thy will, and humbly bend  To that which seemeth best for Thee to send. And yet in our own weakness oft we strive  To rise above the ills which round us thrive; We battle single-handed with the wrong  That seeks to weigh us down the whole day long.  But now at eventide we pray to Thee  For strength to help us gain the victory. O Father, teach us that the darker hours  Are needed to bring forth more perfect flowers,  Cleanse Thou our minds, and make us know aright  That vales of darkness lead to clearer light — For this we humbly ask, most gracious God, E’en though we pass beneath Thy chastening rod. To us, so weak, the load seems ofttimes hard, And, sorely pressed, we see not the reward; We do not try to pierce the cloud of grief, Or seek the hand which brings to us relief. But open, Lord, we pray, our sin-blind eyes  And make us see from whence our help will rise. Give us clean hands, a broken, contrite heart, That we may choose naught but the better part,  Help us to offer unto Thee our lives  One pure, entire, unbroken sacrifice — Then we may hope for glory at the last, When earthly trials and struggles all are past.

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      We note Pieper's inserted phrase above – "Lead them to the knowledge of Thy grace in Christ, Thy dear Son".  Why was Pieper compelled to add this phrase?  Because Starck was a Lutheran Pietist.  The background on the weaknesses of Pietism will be covered in a later blog about Starck and his popular Prayer Book – 174 editions, and "perhaps the most widely used prayer-book in the Lutheran Church.").  But we can already see why Pieper needed to edit it before it could be considered truly Lutheran. — In the next Part 4 (Sihler)…