This continues from Part 5 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. — In Part 1 I referenced the blog post "Disease, Death, and Dependance" on LutheranMuseum.com. In that post, the writer was edified by a sermon of Walther related to the 1849 Cholera outbreak in St. Louis that claimed more than 1 in 10 people in that city.
Recent research has turned up another writing of Walther, a sermon plan, that directly addressed the same plague. This was in Walther's book Predigtenwürfe und nicht ganz ausgeführte Predigten und Casualreden, (CPH 1903, Google Books; "Sermon Plans, Uncompleted Sermons, and Occasional Addresses"). Although there is no known English translation of this book, it is planned for a future blog on this site. Anyway, the sermon plan was listed as an "Address for Confession without Text, held during the season of Cholera. 4th Sunday after Trinity Sunday (1849)", page 346. For those unfamiliar with the Church calendar year (like me), that would have been about July 1, 1849, in the middle of the June-July outbreak (source: LutheranMuseum.org.)
This sermon was given when many faced death among them, and all around them. Walther is quite descriptive about the severity of their distress. (To my knowledge the COVID-19 death rate is much lower, more like 3 in 1000 in the more severely affected areas in America today.) It is somewhat different than the other sermon, as Walther addressed the Christian use of Holy Communion for those nearing death, and gives us counsel for Christian practice during our current government imposed "social distancing". — As one reads the following, keep in mind that this was not a full sermon but rather an abbreviated outline and so there appear long dashes (—) and ellipses (…) where the narrative is truncated.
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Translation from the German by BackToLuther using DeepL and Google Translators, page 346.
4th Sunday after Trinity.
(In the season of Cholera.)
The thing that occupies us all day and night now is without doubt death. God now compels even the careless to think of death.
Where we walk and stand, we encounter memories of death. Dying people groan at us in almost every house, on every street the hearse rolls by before our eyes. Almost every hour brings us new news of the renewed death of one of our brothers or sisters. It is as if the high dividing wall between time and eternity has almost completely fallen. The city in which we live [St. Louis, Missouri] already appears to us like the graveyard [Gottesacker], our houses like mortuaries, our beds like coffins.
I am convinced that each one of us has gone to this place of worship today with the thought that perhaps it is the last time.
May you therefore use the precious time still given to you to enjoy Holy Communion, for Holy Communion is a delightful means of preparation for death.
Let me speak to you of this now, namely
1. in what way Holy Communion is such a delightful means of preparation for death, and
2. how to enjoy Holy Communion if it is to become such a means for us.
I.
What does it take to be properly prepared for one's death?
a. That one knows that your sins are forgiven — you have a merciful God —. b. That one has the strength to contradict the accusations of conscience and the devil. c. That they know that your body will not remain in the grave —.
But these three things are found in Holy Communion.
a. Forgiveness of sin. Christ commanded that the Sacrament should be given to us in the words: "he for you — this for you". But will Christ command that this should be said to us if it is not given to us in this way, and if we should not be assured of forgiveness?
Yes, even if these words were not added to it —.
From this it follows that in the Holy Communion too, the power is given to contradict the accusations of conscience and the devil. — [page 347]
How comforted from our body’s decay we are made at last also by Holy Communion!
The Holy Communion is a new tree of life.
The first Christians well recognized all this. Therefore they called Holy Communion the viaticum [“provision for a journey”] of the dying Christians — in the persecutions they enjoyed it daily —. They often spent large sums of money to obtain permission to bring the Holy Sacrament to those who were to die martyrdom in their prisons.
II.
But now the second question that arises is how we should enjoy Holy Communion, if it is to become such a delightful means of preparing ourselves properly for the hour of our death.
Unfortunately, some think that it is enough if they [only] enjoy the sacrament shortly before their death.
a. One must also test oneself — b. in faith, the "for you" —.
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If anyone suggests that "Old Missouri" did not focus on the Sacraments enough, this sermon outline certainly refutes such a notion. — What follows is another writing under the title "Address for Confession, and a Prayer" which, although not addressing the plague situation, is yet appropriate to follow the above sermon. Walther demonstrates that he is perhaps the greatest Christian preacher since the Reformation century. — If/when there is another blog post in this "Plague" series, it will be Part 7.
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Address for Confession, and a Prayer. (p. 347)
May God give you much grace and peace through… etc. Amen.
Beloved ones in the Lord Jesus!
True Christianity is something quite different from what we usually believe. It is usually thought that true Christianity consists in a series of so-called good works, and that therefore, if one wants to be saved, one must do as many good works as possible and live a good life. Whoever is not aware of gross sins, whoever has many good qualities, whoever, for example, is kind, serving, generous, gentle, humble, whoever, in doing so, believes God's Word to be true, reads it daily, prays diligently, usually believes that he is certainly a true Christian.
This opinion, my listeners, is more common than you think. Even those who confess that their faith saves them when they examine themselves to see whether they are in God's grace are usually calm, when they are not aware of any gross sins and rather find some good in themselves. Well, so they think, should you not be a true Christian? But, dear friends, this is not a doctrine of the pure Lutheran Church, this is in part paganism, in which everything was given over [read balance, including Prayer, in the "Read more »" section below]
[page 348] to great and especially heroic works, and in part it is a doctrine of the Catholic Church, which publicly teaches that God's grace can be earned through good works, and that there are people who have done superfluous good works and so can give these to others for their salvation.
But no! True Christianity consists of nothing of a series of good works. Dear people, you can yet do ever so much, you can yet pray and read so much, you can give all your goods to the poor, you can leave father, mother, house and farm and everything and follow the Christian Church across lands and seas, through dangers and tribulations and through death itself, yes, you can die for others, and yet perhaps you cannot be a true Christian. As St. Paul says, “And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity [love], it profiteth me nothing. [1 Cor. 13:3]
Now, you may ask, what then is true Christianity? That is, in short, not a virtuous life, not a series of good works, but a state in which our heart, our mind, our soul should be. Such a state … etc.
Prayer.
Would but Thou, O Lord Jesus Christ, Thyself grant to us Thy grace for this. That Thou would make us see now quite vividly how those who belong to Thee prove their heavenly, holy purpose not only in spiritual, but also in bodily, earthly things. Alas, give us all through this a powerful, healing blow of Thy grace on our hearts; awaken through this those who are already Thy true disciples, that they may continue, not fall away, but become more eager and fervent from day to day in Thy love and service. And those who have not yet been transfigured into Thy image, will Thou awaken today that they too may convert to Thee, and even in the midst of the world let their walk be in heaven. Help us to do this, O Jesus, for the sake of Thy love and goodness and faithfulness. Amen.
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No Pentecostal preacher can preach like Walther, who prayed that God would grant "a powerful, healing blow of Thy grace on our hearts". This is because Pentecostal/Reformed preachers preach a conditional "gospel", but Walther preached the pure unconditional Gospel.
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