History 4a: Hochstetter’s “Foreword” (1 of 2)

      This continues from Part 3 (Table of Contents in Part 3), a series publishing an English translation of Pastor Christian Hochstetter's 1885 496-page book entitled (abbreviated) The History of the Missouri Synod, 1838-1884. — In this installment, we begin with the "Foreword" in which Hochstetter tells us about his background, and why he wrote this book. Why did he join the (Old) Missouri Synod? — Now Hochstetter's History is no longer locked up in the German language, away from English-speaking Lutherans, but is available… in English… for free.

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The following is an English translation of C. Hochstetter's Geschichte… by BackToLuther utilizing the DeepL Translator with minor assistance from Dr. Fred Kramer's translation.  All hyperlinks, highlighting and red text in square brackets [] are mine.

[page III]

Foreword.

 

Christian Hochstetter

It has been correctly said: Facta loguuntur [“Facts speak for themselves”]. Also the history of the Missouri Synod needs no long preface. It will, however, be the appropriate place where the author of this writing will have to give an account to his readers of himself and of the cause of writing this book.

The writer of these lines was first inspired to enter into the service of the inner mission in 1850 during a “Kirchentag” meeting held in Stuttgart. Even then he recognized that North America, as the land of immigration, is actually the place for inner mission. But after he had just finished his studies in Tübingen, he entered the vicarial service for a few more years and only in spring 1853 he took a vacation from the Royal Württemberg Consistory, which was only issued for six years. Even before he left for America, he received a call through the mediation of Dr. Barth to a then newly formed congregation in Fort Wayne, Indiana. This congregation had been founded shortly before by a licensed preacher from the Ohio Synod in opposition to the long-standing congregation of Dr. Sihler, which belonged to the Missouri Synod, and the writer of these lines, by accepting this call, came into close association with the Ohio Synod, even before he knew it in detail. Since he did not find in the Ohio Synod what he was looking for, but rather was of the opinion that a strong external church government was needed from the outside in order to be able [page IV] to control the spiritual devastation and the often prevailing disdain for the preaching ministry, he felt drawn to the Buffalo Synod, whose senior was Pastor J. A. A. Grabau († 1879).  

In 1857, I was appointed as a deacon next to Pastor Grabau at the Trinity Church in Buffalo, where I served for ten years under very turbulent circumstances. In February 1866, I felt compelled to file a complaint with the Buffalo Synod ministry, and the negotiations that ensued led to a great schism, while Pastor Grabau, along with three other preachers, renounced the Buffalo Synod in the extra session of the Synod held in May of that same year, to which he had appealed. In September of the same year, the writer of these lines, together with the now also deceased Pastor von Rohr, had the first meeting with Prof. Dr. Walther, which took place in Dr. Sihler's home in Fort Wayne. It was there that the Buffalo Colloquium was arranged, which was held in November 1866 between the representatives of the Missouri Synod and those of the Buffalo Synod, as recorded in Chapters VIII and IX of this book. Since the representatives of the Buffalo Synod recognized at this public colloquium that the hitherto contested doctrine of the Missouri Synod, namely the doctrine of church and ministry, is the scriptural and symbolic confession of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, (with only one Buffalo delegate reserving differences), they subsequently joined the Missouri Synod with the largest part of the Buffalo Synod congregations, thus bringing to an end the longstanding dispute between these two synods. In the following year, 1867, the Missouri Synod elected the writer of these lines to represent the Eastern District of the Synod at the colloquium held between the representatives of the Iowa Synod and those of the Missouri Synod in Milwaukee, Wisc., as reported in [page V] Chapter X of this paper. — The author believed that he had to make this preliminary reminder because it is shows that the writer of this is not only in many places an eye- and ear-witness of what he reports in this book, but is also to some extent involved in the doctrinal disputes and struggles that were decided upon by the Missouri Synod. It has not been easy for us, the former members of the Buffalo Synod, to prove right those in whom we once thought were church destroyers; the readers will recognize from what is reported at the end of Chapter VIII that it was only under various tribulations, which had to serve us in the best possible way, and after the temptation which teaches us to remember the Word, that we were set on the path by God's gracious guidance, which we have now walked for 18 years in unity of spirit with the members of the Missouri Synod.

In accordance with the spiritual nature of the kingdom of God, it cannot be otherwise than that only there, in blessing, is building on the walls of our Lutheran Zion, where one builds on the right, old foundation, and where the Holy Spirit himself, who brings the dead to life through his powerful Word, is the master builder, through whom one stone is joined to another. Where the pure preaching of the Gospel as the power of God goes out to the salvation of souls, there the churches will also come to a healthy knowledge and to a proper form from within! This was confirmed by the Evangelical Lutheran Missouri Synod. The founders and leaders of the Synod did not support ecclesiastical political plans, nor did they believe that they had to take into account the circumstances in which they were placed in such a way that they would have pursued a carnal addiction to expansion; when they fought, they fought for the sanctuary of revealed truth, and when they built, they wanted to build the souls through the Word as living stones in the house of God, which is a spiritual temple in the Lord. [page VI] In the Foreword to the Book of the Church and Ministry [p.viii], Dr. Walther exclaims, "We must resolutely reject the accusation that we have bent and modelled the holy pure teaching of our Church in favor of our circumstances — — — We have not modelled the teaching of our Church according to our circumstances, but have ordered it according to the doctrine of our Church. Anyone who doubts this, we confidently call out to him: Come and see!"

The former members of the Buffalo Synod are not the only Lutherans who joined the Missouri Synod for protection and support; entire synods met with it and formed the Lutheran Synodical Conference on the basis of the unadulterated Word of God and under the banner of the Lutheran Confessions rooted in the Word of God; the Lutheran Church in this Occident [Western world] experienced an unprecedented revival through God's gracious visitation, the number of congregations associated with the Missouri Synod increased in an unprecedented way! Why should it be surprising when Satan rumbles about it, when the little ship of our synodical fellowship is threatened and afflicted by heavy storms, especially in recent times? While Satan is leading his own people by the scruff of the neck — and there is no doubt about this — Satan's cunning is also concealed under the fact that in the doctrinal dispute that has now arisen in the midst of our Synodical Conference we are dealing here with the doctrine of predestination, that is to say the eternal election of the children of God. First of all, this was a doctrine that was less well known and less mentioned in comparison with other doctrines that are even closer to the center of salvation, because it does not belong to the ABC’s of the revealed truth of salvation, with which one must begin in teaching and learning. This is why Luther says in the preface to Chapter 9 of the Epistle to the Romans: "Every doctrine has its measure, time and age. It is the spirits who, before they have grasped and prayed the simple way of salvation, begin at the top [page VII] and want to explore the abyss of divine predestination, and worry about whether they are foreknown, i.e. whether they are the chosen ones. Follow this epistle (to the Romans) in its order. First grieve with Christ and the Gospel, that you may recognize your sin and His grace, and then contend with sin as taught here in chapters 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8. After that, when you have come to chapter 8, under the cross and suffering, the predestination in chapters 9, 10 and 11 will teach you how comforting it is. Because without the cross, suffering and death, predestination cannot be dealt with without harm and secret anger against God. Therefore Adam must first die before he can suffer this thing and drink the strong wine. Therefore be careful not to drink wine while you are still a baby." *)

Although in Germany, as far as it is "Protestant", the 400th anniversary of Martin Luther's birth was celebrated with great display, Luther's teachings are so little known and respected in many parts that one often thinks that what was brought to light from the depths of the divine Word as a precious prize of the Reformation through Luther's ministry is fanaticism [Schwärmerei]. One can be saved by human considerations, even by the very same objections and prejudices which the Romanists past and present raised against Luther and his associates. Thus it happened with regard to the doctrine of the Church and the Ministry, the so-called objective concept of the Church, by which one wanted to suppress the Evangelical doctrine of the Church, which was described as atomistic, subjectivistic, etc., is entirely the doctrine of the Church that Bellarmin put forward. In the same way, they are now fighting with the same reasons against our doctrine of the election of grace, which Erasmus once put forward against Luther.

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*) The Synodical Report of the Ohio Synod of 1881 mocks the fact that the pure doctrine of grace has been compared to strong wine! Does one know in that synod that the man of God Luther is being mocked with this?

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      Along with my dedication of this English translation to Dr. Fred Kramer, I would give honorable mention to Pastor Bryce Winter of the Australian ELCR for his splendid attempts at translating this massive 496-page work.  Pastor Winter, who is reaching an age, is perhaps the greatest living translator of Old Missouri Synod German works into English. How I wished that he could have completed his work because his work is superior to my effort. However the sheer size of this project has apparently prevented his completion of it.  Therefore with the silence of both CPH and CHI after my 2-year old warning, I am proceeding with this project with the aid of current online resources.