3. it is a fact that happiness does not consist in earthly advantages.
Even a Communist must admit that external equality would not make all people happy, since the needs of the human heart are quite different. The one is only happy when he is in this situation, the other when he is in that situation. He who has not known the many imaginary needs, and has his cup of coffee and a sandwich in the morning, and his simple meal at noon, and his faithful wife and obedient children, and his potato soup in the evening, and holds his home service, does not only think himself happier than a king, — he is also a thousand times happier. Happiness does not live in palaces, it lives in hearts. Give one man all the riches on earth, it won't make him happy. It is a madness in which almost all people are stuck, that they think: if we had as much as others, then we would be happy too.” As soon as one gets a great deal, then worries come on too. One should move from castle to castle, and one should be allowed to enter the rooms where princes and emperors live, then one would see how happy these are, one would see that if they lack the Christian faith, they are unhappy, despite their power and despite their wealth and despite the honor they enjoy. In all these things happiness is not at all present, but we only imagine it. It is his mind that either makes a person happy or not. You can fill a man's house with gold and diamonds — it never fills his heart. This heart has a very different desire.
But even if you say these things, it's mostly talk in the wind, people don't believe it. They say: “O, if only I had a lot of money, I would feel quite happy”; these are enthusiasts who say that. [page 21] But if only a person is to put himself to the test, he will see that, on the contrary, with a large lump of gold a terrible burden falls on the heart. Gellert beautifully depicted this in the poem “Johann the Soap Boiler”. [Christian Gellert may have been mistaken for Friedrich von Hagedorn.] There he depicts a soap boiler that sang merrily day and night. He has his dear bread, he likes to do the work. Next to him, however, lives a rich gourmet who is terribly annoyed that Johann woke him from his sleep so early. He therefore made a contract with him, [1947-33] that he would give him a thousand dollars if he kept quiet. The latter said: “Oh, I can keep quiet for a thousand dollars.” He carried the money home. Now he was silent, but the peace and joy of his heart and mind was gone. When he lay in bed and something rushed, he thought, “Stop! There are thieves here! In short, his happiness was at stake. At last he packed his money together and carried it back to his rich neighbor. He preferred to sing happily again. This is a poem, of course, but it is deeply drawn from the experience of millions of people. That is why it is completely against all nature to want to make people happy by the ways of Communism.
True happiness can only be given by the Word of God. One can be intoxicated for a short time by things that one succeeds in and feels very happy. Oh, but these are only short periods! But a Christian is always happy, even when he has to cry. When he lies before his God, he must say in truth, "Oh, what a happy man I am! because he knows that he has enjoyed the goodness of God, because he knows that weeping lasts only a short time. He comes to his God and Father, and will stand before His throne forever, once the deceptive game of this life is played out. A Christian knows this and this is what makes him happy. Of course, such a person does not always have a sweet feeling; O no! Christians often look very sad, they usually feel very bad, and the better the Christian one is, the more he is plagued by bad feelings, because he notices every movement of the flesh. This causes him distress and misery. But no one can take this one thing away from him; he has a merciful God in heaven; he has found the pearl, and when this life is over, he can confidently close his eyes; for he has nothing to fear from death or hell, not even from nothingness, of which atheists are always afraid.
Although many say: “There is no God,” there are fewer atheists than we usually think, even in our times. In the daytime many a man is a terrible atheist, and when he lies down in bed and it is dark around him, he hears a soft voice inside: “There is a God, it is at least uncertain whether there is not a God, and if there is a God, what is to become of you?” It takes a satanic obduracy and hardening of the heart for this voice [1947-34] [page 22] to stop completely. One can deliver a fiery speech in a society against the existence of God, but one must not think that he really means it. There are so many braggarts [Bramarbasse] who want to prove a strong spirit by speaking against God in this way. And then when they come home they think: “Oh, what have you done!” They themselves do not believe what they say. The dear God Himself has written it into their hearts and no one can wipe it out: “There is a God, and you are responsible to God, He will drag you before His judgement seat. Woe to you if you do not have a savior. He will judge you strictly according to His holiness and righteousness.” —
Therefore, also because it is a fact that happiness does not consist in earthly advantages, it is folly to want to make men happy by making them equal. [page 23 [1947-35] ————————————————
Reason, Nature, Experience, continued (Lecture II.)
O God, it was not for the short span of his earthly life that Thou created man. The immortal spirit of man is not bound to time and earth like the soul of the irrational animal, but rises high above all that has been created, even into unbounded eternity. The heart of man cannot be satisfied by temporal and earthly things like the blind instincts of the animal, but hungers and thirsts for eternal, perfect goods. In this present world, therefore, Thou want to first prepare man for his goal, in another world he is to achieve it; here he is to sow, there he shall reap; here he is to work, there he is to receive his reward; here he is to be tested by suffering, there he is to enter into glory; here truth is to fight with lies, justice with oppression; there truth and righteousness are to triumph and be crowned.
O help us not to seek our happiness, our rest, our peace, in the transitory things of this world; we would not find what we seek. Help us also that we do not despair in the distress of this life, but that we fight the battle decreed for us with strength and manliness. Above all, help us that we do not waver in our faith in Thy Holy Word in this time of apostasy and unbelief. Thy only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, our Redeemer, comfort us and by His grace go there in peace and see Thee face to face in eternal joy and blessed light. Amen.
Anyone, my friends, who thinks that this is why we Lutherans do not participate in the agitations of the Socialists and Communists, but oppose them, because we did not know the plight of the workers, or because we had no heart for the plight of the workers, or because in all circumstances we were in favor of the rich, the so-called noblemen and the rulers, is quite wrong. First of all, we know quite well the plight of the workers, especially in the present, for how could we not know it? The vast majority of the members of our Lutheran congregations consists of just such people who are oppressed by the general misery of the workers. Especially among us Germans it is a real rarity when a rich man or a man of position [page 24] should once join one of our congregations. We also know quite well that the terrible misery that has come upon the workers, especially now, is by no means due solely to a natural necessity, [1947-36] but rather that to a certain extent, indeed probably to the greatest extent, the source of this misery lies in self-interest, in stinginess, in selfishness, in cruelty, in heartlessness, yes, that I am only just stating it, in the blood-sucking and drudgery of the rich. Nor are we heartless in the face of the plight of the workers; no one believes that. When we read about the heart-rending scenes that take place daily, especially in the big cities, in the huts of the workers, our hearts truly bleed, and we are willing and ready to contribute our own, however little it may be, to making the poor worker’s lot a better one. It is also not the case that we wanted to go with the rich and the influential at all costs. No, if the rich act unchristian against the poor, if they only look at them for people who are there to exploit them, if they treat them like a cow that is only milked and then pushed into the bush, if they do not want to give the worker his due wages, if they will not, where they can do so, if they do not want to give the worker who has had an accident in their service his remuneration, if they do not want to keep the sick worker with his family, if they want to live heartlessly while the worker is starving: then we are not their friends but their principal enemies.
Ah, my brothers, what would we be if we wanted to be on the side of the bloodsuckers and not on the side of the oppressed? We would be the most infamous and despicable hypocrites that the earth has ever carried, that the sun has ever shone on, if we still pretended that the Holy Scriptures were our book of religion. No, it is precisely the Holy Scripture which not only says that the highest and first commandment is to love God above all else, but also adds: “And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself” [Matt. 22:39]; for it is precisely the Holy Scripture which says: “All things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets,” [Matt. 7:12] that is, the Law and the Prophets, this is the short content, the summa, the core and star, the heart of the whole Holy Scripture according to its legal part. It is the Holy Scripture, after all, which, that I express myself in this way, cries wrath on the unjust rich, which brings a thousand times woe upon those who [1947-37] have their wealth only to increase it, or to prepare for themselves a leisurely life in this world, who do not ask about their neighbor, do not think of the fact that they have their wealth above all for the sake of the poor, who therefore leave poor Lazarus lying at the gates of their palaces and live in their palaces every day in splendor and joy. No, we are not on their side. We renounce them, and if now the [page 25] Socialism and Communism makes them afraid and distressed, they deserve nothing better. The Socialists will be the scourge of God for them.
But in spite of this, my brothers, we cannot go with the Socialists or the Communists, mainly for two reasons: first, because they are striving for a goal that is too far, which they cannot and should not achieve, and second, because they want to use means that no God-fearing person can use. If, for example, the Communists and Socialists want to make everything in the world equal, to introduce the community of goods, no one should be rich or poor, or, if they want to use bloody violence when necessary to achieve this goal, then we cannot side with them. For we know that God's order is such that we human beings are equal to one another in the spiritual realm, that is, in our relationship with God, for God is no respecter of persons, but that there should be a difference for this world, both in possessions and in the position a person occupies, without which difference the world cannot exist. On the other hand, Scripture tells us that it is not the private individual, but the authorities who have the power of the sword. Therefore, when the Apostle Peter himself drew the sword to defend his Lord, for which he seemed to have the highest right, who has ever been violated more shamefully and unjustly than our Lord Jesus Christ? — Christ said to him, “Put up again thy sword into his place: for all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword.” [Matt. 26:52] Yes, even when the LORD stood before Pilate, before this most unjust of all unjust judges, he conceded to him, “Thou couldest have no power at all against me, except it were given thee from above.” [John 19:11] Pilate was an authoritative person, he had the power. By the way, even if the Communists and Socialists reached their goal to some extent, they would not only reach it only by the shedding of blood, but the glory would last only a very short time, and they would soon realize that they had bitterly deceived themselves [1947-38] and others. And that is what we now want to treat a little more extensively. —
We are at the fourth subdivision of the first part of our presentation. The first part reads: “No sensible person, let alone a Christian, can take part in the efforts of the Communists and Socialists, much less become a member of one of their associations, because they are against reason, nature and experience.” There it says then:
- - - - - - - - - - - - Continued in Part 7: Point 4: Experience, Communists never succeed - - - - - - - - - - -
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