Preuss9b: Untrue, sneering outbursts of "Lutherans"—Walther's lesson on love vs. doctrine

      This concludes from Part 9a (Table of Contents in Part 1) a series presenting C. F. W. Walther's account of Dr. Eduard Preuss's apostasy to the Roman Catholic Church. — Finally, Walther makes his final reference to the Preuss affair as he had to defend against erring Lutherans in America. — Der Lutheraner, vol. 28 (March 1), p. 83-4: 

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The Messenger of Peace [Friedensbote] of the local United [Church]. It was predictable that this issue of the Messenger of Peace would communicate the apostasy of Dr. Preuss to his readers with great pleasure. He did it according to his heart's desire, and of course faithfully used the given opportunity to throw a stone of suspicion at our synod and church. There is no doubt that the Pharisees at that time did not fail to suspect Christ and the entire apostolic college when Judas, whose “friends” and “protectors” they [Christ and the disciples] had been, became a traitor. The [page 84] Messenger of Peace also makes the remark: 

“The Lutheraner persistently kept silent about this somewhat mysterious story in his own house, although covering it with the cloak of love is not usually his habit, at least where ‘outsiders’ and ‘neighbors’ are concerned.” 

Here the Messenger of Peace seems to have forgotten that when a few years ago a leader [Hauptmann] was quietly removed from the United [Church] seminary for a serious crime, the Lutheraner covered this and other certain incidents there “with the cloak of love”. We would have remained silent about that even today, since we are of the opinion that apostasy and grave cases of sin of individuals prove nothing against the fellowship in which they occur, but only the false doctrine; 

however, this untrue, sneering outburst requires us to help the Messenger of Peace to better self-knowledge as much as possible through this remembrance. He may also consider that it is dangerous, if one lives in a glass house, to throw stones at others. — By the way, the Messenger of Peace also tries to suspect us Lutherans on this occasion by writing that Preuss was “immediately accepted by the Lutheran Missouri Synod with open arms and made professor at their theological seminary in St. Louis and especially highly honored because of his firmness and correctness in ‘pure doctrine’”. The Messenger of Peace knows quite well, however, that we Lutherans did not want to accept Preuss and were only persuaded to accept and employ Preuss not “immediately,” as the Messenger of Peace says untruly, but only after almost a year of probation. — The Messenger of Peace also finally informs its readers of the fable that Preuss was “already the second professor *) of the same theological institution” who had taken refuge in the Roman church; while the Messenger of Peace knows quite well that Baumstark was not a theological professor, but only a teacher at the practical pre-school, in which he only had to teach reading, writing, arithmetic, mensa declension and amo conjugation [i.e. Latin grammar] and the like. Or is such a teacher already considered a theological professor by the Lord? — May the Messenger of Peace, who always talks so much about love, learn on this occasion that to love does not mean to talk much about love, but to practice love. W. [Walther]

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*) These words were printed by the Messenger of Peace itself in a blocked font, “without considering” that also in the United seminary a second one followed this fallen one, without us having mentioned one or the other in our publications.

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      In my research of Old Missouri Synod periodicals, I found no other reference to the Preuss affair.  But this case afforded C. F. W. Walther one of his greatest teaching lessons for his Lutheran readers.  May it spiritually benefit readers of this blog today as it has for me!  Amen!