DL7a: Lochner defends Luther's “Pope and Turk" hymn (against LC-MS); Der Lutheraner 1894

      This continues from Part 6b (Table of Contents in Part 1) in a series presenting Der Lutheraner, 1888-1934, in English. — This sub-series #7 presents a striking essay that will be hard for the LC-MS to swallow. (It should be read along with posts from 2015, last September's, and October's posts)  It was written by Pastor Friedrich Lochner, who has now had a book of his translated by the excellent Matthew Carver and published by CPH.  This book, The Chief Divine Service (CPH 2020) is highly praised by several noted LC-MS theologians and pastors, even some from the Romanizing “Gottesdienst” organization.  President Matthew Harrison states in the Foreword:

"Lochner… is in sympathy and dialogue with…  Roman Catholics".  

Pres. Harrison and his LC-MS leave the notion that the Roman Catholic Church is one to be "in sympathy and dialogue with" and so rarely or only reservedly teach against the Catholic Church by name. They want their people to think that Lochner, and not Walther and Pieper, are closer to true Lutheranism. But Lochner was a true Missourian, a true Lutheran, and slams the door on today’s LC-MS in this short essay on Luther's "most controversial hymn". Although I have previously referenced it, I had not fully translated it. So this time, when I ran across it again, I had to stop and immediately get it translated and polished.  And as I read it I repeatedly laughed out loud, for it clearly exposes today's LC-MS for what it is, a mediating, Romanizing church body that has left Lutheranism in key doctrines. No officials in the LC-MS will be advertising or praising this Der Lutheraner essay by Pastor Lochner. — From Der Lutheraner, vol. 50 (1894), p. 204-205:

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  

“Keep us, O Lord, by Thy Word, And prevent the murder by Pope and Turk.”

[by Pastor Friedrich Lochner]

As is well known, this is the beginning of the hymn composed by Luther and published in 1542, which originally consisted of three verses and which he gave the characteristic heading: “A children's hymn to sing against the two arch-enemies of Christ and His holy churches, the Pope and the Turk. No doubt Luther called this hymn against the “two arch-enemies” a “children's hymn” in view of the words of the Lord at His entry into Jerusalem and into the temple, Ps. 8:3: “Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou hast prepared a power for thine enemies' sake, that thou shouldest destroy the enemy and the avenger.” 

But if ever a hymn of the Lutheran church has experienced the hatred and contradiction of the papists from the beginning until today, then it is this children's and prayer hymn of Luther. Yes, if he had thought only of the Turk, who at that time was again harassing Christianity! But here Luther put the Pope in the same class with the Turks, and not only called both of them the “arch-enemies of Christ and His holy churches,” but also had the children in the churches and schools, in the houses and in the streets proclaim them as such! The Lutherans had to be prevented from singing this. Not only was the hymn mocked by a mean parody (mocking imitation), not only did a Bavarian duke, devoted to the pope, say one day to his courtiers: “Eating (gorging), drinking, whoring, bubens [pornographic German terms] — just don't become Lutheran and sing the God-dishonoring hymn: ‘Keep us, O Lord, by Thy Word’ [Erhalt uns, HErr, bei deinem Wort]”, but they also tried to suppress it by force in old and new times. To cite just a few examples, on December 16, 1548, the singing of this hymn was forbidden in Strasbourg with corporal punishment; likewise in 1662 with severe punishment in the principality of Oels; likewise in 1713 in all of Silesia, despite the freedom of faith solemnly assured in the religious peace. In Regensburg, only after many negotiations with the Bavarian government did the ecclesiastical ministry finally succeed in 1703 in having this hymn sung at least on the Reformation festival, that is, only once a year.  

During the Thirty Years' War, even children had to die over this hymn. When the sinister Catholic commander Tilly, after a long siege, finally stormed the city of Magdeburg in the early morning of May 20, 1631, his soldiers raged among the overcome inhabitants more mercilessly than the Turks and worse than wild animals. While the street fighting was still raging, it happened that schoolchildren went in pairs to church, not only for Matins, as they did every morning at the beginning of school, but this time also for refuge from the murderous sword of the victors. But when Tilly heard, through the clatter of the guns, the shouting of the victors and the groaning of the wounded, that these children were singing as they marched along: “Keep us, O Lord, by thy Word,” he burst upon the crowd of children full of fury and ordered his wild Croatians to cut down these children, shoot them and throw them into the flames. Though the Pope, in his joy at the fall of Magdeburg, might now hold a Te Deum in St. Peter's — yet after his victory Tilly’s fortunes of war fell off, and remorse tormented him over this modern Bethlehem infanticide [Matthew 2:16–18].

- - - - - - - - - - -  Continued in Part 7b  - - - - - - - - - - -

Now we can see why the LC-MS dropped the words "Pope and Turk" from Luther's most controversial hymn, because it was hated so much especially by the papists. — In the next Part 7b, we see the strength of some early Lutherans, but then sadly this began to give way and so we witness how the LC-MS has followed the way of these weak Lutherans.