[by C. F. W. Walther; Part 3]
Even in the December 1, 1871 issue of the Abendschule, Dr. Preuss wrote an article with the title “Der Antichrist” (“The Antichrist”), which, among other things, states:
“That since Pope Boniface III, that is since 607, the Antichrist sat on the chair in Rome, will be known to our readers.” He continues further down: “This situation was used by Pope Gregory VII who was clever as a snake. For a long time he had sought to bring all church power into his hands. No congregation, no authority, no emperor should be allowed to choose a pastor for this! As frantic as this plan was, Gregory got away with it. For the man who should have defended the rights of the common people was a rascal. This is why the pope dared to <column 3> make the following judgment at a Roman Synod in February 1076, after much writing back and forth: ‘By virtue of the power received by Peter for the honor and defense of the Church (!!) 2) I forbid King Henry, the son of emperor Henry, who rose up with outrageous pride against the church, the imperial government of Germany and Italy, loosen all Christians from the bonds of oath which they have given him, or will give him, and forbid anyone to obey him as king, and—because he will not obey as Christian—I bind him with the curse.’ This is how the alleged successor of St. Peter acted. And Saint Peter himself said: ‘Be subject to your masters with all fear; not only to the good and gentle, but also to the froward [or unreasonable, 1 Peter 2:18].’ Peter therefore bound all his subjects to their lords, even to pagan, evil-minded ones. And his successor [Pope Gregory VII] snatched them away from being Christian... But what followed, in fact, exceeds all belief and shows the true character of the papacy, 3a) which Gregory VII represented. —
Namely, after the pope, urged by Margravine Mathilde and by Hugo of Clugny, had absolved Henry of his sins at his penitent confession, performed the following farce: He held a great meeting in the church of Canossa, celebrated Mass there and, after consecrating the host, he asked King Henry to take half, if he knew all the faults 4) of which he was accused. Think of it: A priest who first demands a confession of guilt, who then renounces and then calls on the cleansed to declare himself innocent. The purpose of this terrible trial was to destroy Henry for all time in the opinion of all present. — The emperor rejected the host, but from that moment it became clear to him that he was dealing with Satan's firstborn. 3) Even people far removed judged that Henry was released in peace <page 74>. In a peace like Judas 5) pretended, not as Christ left us. That's how Gregor exercised his power. So he knew how to press the Empire under his foot. But he tore the clergy away from human society by introducing forced celibacy and made them satellites of the Pope. Truly our elders were not wrong when they called him Hellfire.” 5)
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2) These two exclamation marks were added by Preuss himself, as well as emphasizing the following words with a blocked font. [see Sperrsatz]
3) Emphasized by us.
4) Emphasized by Preuss himself.
5) Emphasized by us.
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So Preuss wrote in the last December issue of the Abendschule! …
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