AG9a: 1883: Worldly Authorities I: Churchly Authorities

      This continues from Part AG8c (Table of Contents in Part AG1a) in a series presenting Walther's essays to the Western District that supported his theme "That Only Through the Doctrine of the Lutheran Church is All Glory Given to God Alone". — At the 1883 Western District convention, Walther begins a 3-year series on the topic of Worldly Authorities for Christians: Churchly (1883), Secular (1885), and Household (1886) authorities. — In this first installment, he deals first with what the conscience is, then what tyranny is over conscience. Walther speaks with authority because he teaches according to Holy Scripture, so that we can be absolutely sure of what Christian doctrine is in this matter. — This is an extensive essay, so I am breaking it up into 2 parts. The first part is from the 1883 report, pp. 18-46:

Notable Quotes:

18: Conscience, what it is and is not, its definition; erring conscience after Fall

19: "rule over the conscience of another…1) either by force compelling another to believe…or 2) compelling another to do so by virtue of his supposed authority, office, and prestige"

19: Luther, Diet of Worms: "But Luther did not recant. Why not? Because, he said, among other things, it is 'neither safe nor wise to do anything against one's conscience.'"

19: Thesis I: "…no creature in heaven or on earth, but God the Lord Himself alone, has the right and power to rule over the faith and conscience of Christians"

20: "Matthew 15:9: 'In vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.' A powerful word from our Savior."

20: Christian freedom: "Christ paid a high ransom to obtain for us …freedom from the curse and compulsion of the moral law, but also freedom from the ceremonial law and from all human laws"

21: "our church rejects all domination of people's consciences is also clear from its description of Christian freedom"

22: Hunnius: "…under the papacy, the Christian people are burdened with far more additions, customs, and ceremonies [than under Levitical law] , all of which are presented as matters of conscience"

22: "But just as it is a grave sin to want to rule over consciences with human statutes, so it is also false humility to submit to human commandments"

23: Christian freedom "by no means implies freedom to disrupt and despise all established orders…a Christian should also willingly comply with his brothers in this for the sake of love and peace."

24: "It is precisely the children of this world who are slaves to their prophets of wisdom."

24: Walther: "And—we may confess to God's praise—our Missouri Synod has remained faithful to the divine Word and the Lutheran Confessions in this regard as well. For a quarter of a century, it has fought publicly for this doctrine [of Christian freedom.]"

25: Walther: For our synod constitution stipulates, among other things, the following for all time:

"The synod is only an advisory body with regard to the self-government of the individual congregations…"

25: "If a congregation finds that the [synodical] decision is not in accordance with the Word of God or is unsuitable for its circumstances, it has the right to disregard or reject the decision"

25: Walther: "…in the event that our synod should ever knowingly attempt to enforce other principles, it has already called upon all its members, preachers, teachers, and congregations, to leave it as a hypocrite and apostate." [All Glory to God, pp. 421-422]

25: Thesis II: "…not even the whole church"

26: "the holy apostles did everything in their power to prevent their high position in the church from giving rise to domination over conscience within it."

26: "The Papists in particular claim that the church has the right and power to make binding laws."

27: Apology: "we have said…that it is not necessary for human statutes to be uniform everywhere."

27-28: Smalcald Articles: "“It is not valid to make articles of faith out of the work or words of the holy fathers"

28: Formula of Concord: "We also confess to the same first Unaltered Augsburg Confession, not because it was formulated by our theologians, but because it is taken from God's Word" [Walther's emphasis.]

30: "But Ephesians 5:24 already forbids drawing that conclusion: 'The Church is subject to Christ, as the wife is to her husband.'" [Against the papists.]

30: "if the whole Church had the power to make laws, then those who obeyed would have to be outside the Church"

30: "if we look around the Church of the present, we find even in most communions that call themselves Lutheran not only the papist practice of controlling consciences, but also the papist doctrine of ecclesiastical power." []

31: "Through Luther, the grace of God broke this yoke of bondage and brought Christians to the knowledge and enjoyment of their freedom"

31: Thesis III: "Nor any church government, whether it be called pope, bishop, superintendent, deacon, president, or council, consistory, synod, or anything else."

32: "This passage [Acts 15:28] is often cited as proof that the synod at least has the power to make binding rules in external matters" [A synod that oversteps its bounds.]

34: "in the early Christian church, bishop and presbyter or elder were names for one and the same office, namely that of all pastors."

35: Luther: "There should and can be no authority among Christians, but each one is at the same time subject to the other"

37: Against Episcopalians: "Lutherans grant Christians their full Christian freedom and do not grant any church minister power alongside the power of the Word" [*******See this blog post.]

38: "one must also be mindful here that the ceremonies do not ultimately become excessive…that they are not regarded as necessary for salvation"

38: "We often see with regret how many beautiful ceremonies are increasingly falling into disuse among us"

38: "The beautiful ancient Christian custom of making the sign of the cross has now, unfortunately, become so much a mark of Catholics in the eyes of the whole world that we cannot reintroduce it into public use without causing great offense."

40: Luther said "when papal law was occasionally used as the basis for judgments: 'We must tear apart the consistory, for we do not want the lawyers and the pope in it.'" [StL 22, 1511]

41: Thesis IV: "Nor any individual congregation, much less a majority of its members."

41: "Many…think, especially in Germany, that our pastors are in fact quite pitiful … servants of men; that the Missouri Synod has a pope turned upside down, …that it has applied the political-democratic institutions of the American republic to the church" [Especially Loehe was behind this last charge, see this blog post.]

41: "the congregation also have their limits in God's Word."

42: "The smallest congregation stands on an equal footing with the largest"

42: "no individual congregation may rule over the faith and conscience of its own members"

43: "in indifferent matters, that is, in matters that God's Word has not decided but left open, the majority may not demand obedience outright"

44: "external connection with other congregations, for example through a synod, neither gives nor takes anything away from the congregation; it can be a true church even without it."

44: "external connection with other congregations, for example through a synod, neither gives nor takes anything away from the congregation; it can be a true church even without it."

45: "one can certainly do no better service to a congregation that wants to force its members to observe its rules than to resolutely refuse to obey it."

46: "Neither preachers nor listeners may presume to exercise power that belongs to God."

46: Thesis V: "Nor does any governing body of an individual congregation, whether it be called a council, elders, church council, presbytery, or the like" (Walther first gives biblical teaching on the "governing body".)

47: "We do not find any account of the establishment of the lay presbyterate in the New Testament.…certain proof that it is not an office in the church specially instituted by God"

49: "Among them [Presbyterians], the presbytery rules the congregation so completely that everything they decree is law for the congregation."

50: "It was therefore apostolic practice that not the presbytery stood above the congregation, but the congregation above the presbytery."

In the next Part 9b, we complete Walther's essay on Churchly Authorities.

AG8c: Evangelical aspect to Prayer; against Pietism (Prayer III)

      This continues from Part AG8b (Table of Contents in Part AG1a) in a series presenting Walther's essays to the Western District that supported his theme "That Only Through the Doctrine of the Lutheran Church is All Glory Given to God Alone". — This third and final part focuses on the teaching that prayer is to focus on "God's command and promise", and be offered in Jesus' name. — From pp. 54-71 of the convention report:

Notable Quotes:

54: Thesis III: "Our church teaches that only prayer based solely on God's command and promise, and is offered in the name of Jesus, is pleasing to God"

57: "The dogmatists of the 17th century mostly treated the doctrine of prayer under the locus of the law". [Walther counters this by reducing the "legal aspect", emphasizing the evangelical aspect.]

59: "Therefore, everyone, whatever he has to ask for, should always come before God with obedience to this commandment."

60: "Matthew 7:7-8: 'Ask, and it shall be given you…'"

61-62: Luther on Moses's silent "cry", or prayer "which fills heaven and earth".

62: Thesis IV: "prayer is neither a meritorious work nor a means of grace, but an exercise of faith"

62: "the Reformed sects call prayer a means of grace"…To call prayer a means of grace does indeed have some appearance of truth"

64: "the sects actually teach that Christ has only earned us the opportunity to obtain God's grace through our prayer [as a means of grace]"

64: "…the Methodist answers him, 'Now you must pray and struggle, and we will pray with you and for you until the feeling of peace with God blesses your heart.'" [We see why Lutherans cannot pray with the sects.]

70-71: Pietism explained!

71: "Our church teaches us that when we ask for forgiveness, we already have it.…not to obtain grace…[but] to obtain the gifts of grace"

      Now I present my English translation of the full complete essay. It includes missing portions restored, all emphasized wording retained, wording sometimes closer to Walther's, and hyperlinks for reference and navigation:

Download text file with no highlights here; German text file here.

For further reading, Franz Pieper has a section on Prayer in his Christian Dogmatics, III, 76-84, Christliche Dogmatik III, 94-103. The modern LC-MS dogmatics, Confessing the Gospel, has a short section in Vol. 2, pp. 1080-1083. — In the next Part AG9…

AG8b: Saints worship, Christ robbed; Person of Christ; the cross, a "magic charm" (Prayer II)

      This continues from Part AG8a (Table of Contents in Part AG1a) in a series presenting Walther's essays to the Western District that supported his theme "That Only Through the Doctrine of the Lutheran Church is All Glory Given to God Alone". — In this second part, Walther continues his defense against saint worship, then brings in how this robs Christ of His honor. — From pp. 34-54 of the convention report:

Notable Quotes: [Thesis I, 2., Thesis II]

35: "what devil has inspired the papacy to say that in times of spiritual distress one should take refuge in the saints instead of in Christ"

36: "…to point Christians to the saints because they are more merciful than Christ?…to say that one should come before God in the name of the saints?"

37: To papists "the sign of the cross has been reduced to a magic charm among them."

38: "The Roman Church is otherwise sharp enough in its censorship when something does not suit it. But here [of saint worship] it remains silent" [Statues of Mary dot the landscape.]

41: In the papacy "Christ ceased to be the gracious Savior of tortured consciences and became a severe judge".

41: Luther, while still a monk: "my heart was completely poisoned by this papist doctrine"

42: Duke George, while dying and told to invoke his patron saint, is later said to have said: ‘Well then, help me, faithful Savior Jesus Christ; have mercy on me'"

43: "We should now also hasten diligently to the Father's heart of our God through Christ in all our concerns, whatever they may be."

Thesis II (on the Person of Christ): "Christ, God and man in one person, is to be invoked and worshipped, not his divinity alone."

44: "the only begotten Son of God, did not merely take up residence in the flesh…“The Word became flesh!” (John 1:14)" 

45: "Christ, as God and man in one person, is to be invoked and worshipped not only according to His divinity, but also according to his humanity"

45: Walther on Phil. 2:9-11: "It does not merely say that the kneeling or worship and invocation should take place in the name of the Son of God, but expressly: 'in the name of Jesus.' But Jesus is the name of our Savior, which he received in His humanity."

46: "1 Tim. 2:5: “There is one God and one mediator between God and men, namely the man Christ Jesus.”

47: "Is it not appalling that almost all churches except the Lutheran, Calvinists as well as Papists, teach that it is permissible to worship Christ according to his divinity, but that to worship him according to his humanity is idolatry?"

50: Errors of Calvinists and Papists on worship of humanity of Christ.

50: "Calvinists…declare what Holy Scripture presents to us in commandment, promise, and example to be idolatry!"[Prayer to Christ's humanity.]

50: Quenstedt: "The Papists, who make a distinction between worship (latreia) and excessive worship (hyperduleia), … [attribute hyper-veneration] to the humanity of Christ and the Blessed Virgin."

51: Luther against Zwingli: "Beware, beware, I say, of alloeosis, it is the devil's mask…that Christ is no longer there with His suffering and life, but just another saint."

52: "the union [of Christ's divinity to His human nature] is and remains inseparable for all eternity"

54: "Let the Papists and Calvinists laugh at us as idolaters: we remain true to the teaching of Scripture"

In the next Part AG8c…

AG8a: 1882: Invocation and Worship of God (Prayer I)– what it is and is not

      This continues from Part AG7d (Table of Contents in Part AG1a) in a series presenting Walther's essays to the Western District that supported his theme "That Only Through the Doctrine of the Lutheran Church is All Glory Given to God Alone". — At this 1882 Western District convention, Walther returned to his initial sequence, now that the Election of Grace doctrine had been fully developed. The subject would seem a little less of interest, but that would be a mistake, as Walther brings comfort from the Scriptures that leaves no doubt. He says at the end of his section on Thesis I: 

"We should now also hasten diligently to the Father's heart of our God through Christ in all our concerns, whatever they may be."

This is what I would call the "sleeper" essay because the subject of "prayer" could cause readers to overlook it. But Walther's tremendous encouragement, and extensive treatment to call on the true God in prayer, will find readers lifting their hearts to God. It has for me. And I have begun to pray the Lord's Prayer again. Walther: "He [God] wants us to ask much, very much of Him". Need help with your prayer life? Read on. — In this first part, Walther ties this to his theme of "All Glory to God", then begins his attack against saint worship. — From pp. 19-71 of the convention report:

Notable Quotes:

[AG8a: Intro, Thesis I, 1. (p 19-34) — AG8b: Thesis I, 2., Thesis II. (p 34-54) — AG8c: Thesis III., Thesis IV (p 54-71 + download)]

19: Gerhard: "A truly golden and highly worthy apostolic rule: …'do all for the glory of God.'"

20: Gerhard: "Any doctrine (dogma) that damages the honor of God the Father and his Son Jesus Christ, … is therefore not sound and genuine."

20: "…if any interpretation of Scripture, any doctrine, does not promote God's glory but attacks and robs Him of it, then it is thereby marked as false"

20: Gerhard: "the papal communion…profess with us the unity of the divine essence in words, they indirectly undermine it when they show divine worship, which belongs to God alone, to creatures"

21: "Calvin and Beza, who, based precisely on the principle “Glory to God alone!”, but following their own reason, constructed a system that took all glory away from God."

Saint worship:

22: Thesis I: "only the true God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, is to be invoked and worshipped; not Mary, not the deceased saints"

22-24: Walther's teaching on papist's misuse of the Greek words to justify their invocation of saints

24: "papists…nevertheless give to the creature the honor that God will allow no other to have"

24: Against invocation of departed saints: "…until finally Luther strikes with a thunderous axe in the Smalcald Articles." [Walther shows the progression of forcefulness in the Lutheran Confessions from Melanchthon's writings to the power of Luther's. See pp. 24-26]

25: "Luther says: 'The invocation of saints is also one of the abuses of Antichrist conflicting with the chief article, and destroys the knowledge of Christ'" [SA II II 25-28]

26: Papists "portray it as innocent reverence that is owed to such steadfast, courageous confessors of the faith…that it is good and useful to invoke them humbly"

28: "All its religious services are nothing but vain idolatry. This is the wine of fornication with which, according to the prophecy of Revelation, Antichrist has made the whole world drunk."

31: Quenstedt: "the religious invocation of the saints is based on an uncertain and highly dubious principle, namely human traditions"

33: Luther: "what idolatry actually means: performing a religious service without God's command, out of one's own devotion…Without His Word, everything is idolatry…"

In the next Part AG8b…

AG7d: MacKenzie's "second error in Walther's citing of Luther"

      This continues from Part AG7c (Table of Contents in Part AG1a) in a series presenting Walther's essays to the Western District that supported his theme "That Only Through the Doctrine of the Lutheran Church is All Glory Given to God Alone". — In researching all the LC-MS and WELS theologian's writings on Walther, Luther, and Luther's writing The Bondage of the Will (or De Servo Arbitrio), none was more offensive than that of Prof. Cameron MacKenzie's from 2011, a writing supposing to honor Walther. Although I represented the main points of his essay in my 2012 blog post, yet it was not a well researched response, only pointing out the false "honoring" of  Walther. And MacKenzie's references were rather detailed enough so that I shied away from digging deeper since that time. But after translating Walther's 1873 and 1874 Western District essays in this series, I determined to do the deeper research. What I found only confirmed my 2012 judgment of Prof. MacKenzie's diatribe. — The best way that I know to present my case is to reproduce an excerpt from MacKenzie's essay of Walther's so-called "second error". — All highlighting, red text within square brackets [] (there is a lot of red text!), and hyperlinks are mine:

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MacKenzie: Walther's Use of Luther    269

[Concordia Theological Quarterly, vol. 75 (2011), p. 269-271]

A second error in Walther's citing of Luther is more serious but quite understandable [“quite understandable”? Why “understandable”? This is the first statement in Walther’s favor.] also. Walther is concerned to shield Luther from the charge of Calvinism, especially with respect to the Bondage of the Will. [Which Burnell Eckhardt also does in his helpful article in Logia. (Logia vol. 7 (1998), no. 4, pp. 23-30)] On the one hand, Walther knows that Luther thought this one of his best works.75 [Oh really? Luther: “I acknowledge none of them to be really a book of mine, except perhaps the one On the Bound Will and the Catechism”] On the other hand, Walther also admits that "on occasion he [Luther] speaks in terms similar to Calvin"; he insists, however, that Luther's purpose was not to teach absolute predestination but "to deny the existence of man's free will in spiritual matters." Walther then cites the Augustana and the Formula in order to make the point that the Lutheran Church teaches that "man's salvation is exclusively a gift of God; in the case of damnation he is exclusively on his own.''76  [How is this pointing out Walther’s “second error”?]

So far so good. [Really? Admitting that Walther had something “good”? MacKenzie is surely loading his gun. This is the second statement in Walther’s favor.] Walther, however, wants specifically to rescue Luther from the accusation by others (Walther mentions the Iowa Synod77) that he, like Calvin, taught that God did not intend all people to be saved. Walther roars back with what appears [only appears?? This is actually the third statement in Walther’s favor.] to be an unanswerable quotation from Bondage,

God does not deplore the death of his people which he works in them, but he deplores the death which he finds in his people and desires to remove from them. . . . For he wills all men to be saved [1 Tim. 2:4], seeing that he comes with the word of salvation to all, and the fault is in the will that does not admit him, as he says in Matthew 23[:37]: "How often would I have gathered your children, and you would not!"78

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75 Convention Essays, 38-39 (1873 Synodal-Bericht des Westlichen Districts, 54).

76 Convention Essays, 39-40 (1873 Synodal-Bericht des Westlichen Districts, 54-55, 56).

77 According to Peter J. Thuesen [who quotes Mark Twain’s blasphemous saying], Predestination: The American Career of a Contentious Doctrine (Oxford: University' Press, 2009), 156, Gottfried Fritschel accused the Missouri Synod in 1870 of "slavish dependence" on Martin Luther even though he had "obviously erred" in his Bondage of the Will. Thus began a preliminary' battle regarding predestination between the Missouri and Iowa Synods even before the formation of the Synodical Conference which would shatter over the same subject just a few years after its founding (1872). For details regarding the Missouri/Iowa skirmish, see Hans R. Haug, "The Predestination Controversy in the Lutheran Church in North American" (Ph.D. dissertation, Temple University, 1968), 109-235. [Note: John Brenner of the WELS discounts Haug as writing from “a perspective of modern ecumenism which often fails to grasp the historic Lutheran stress on agreement in doctrine for the unity of the church”.]

78 Convention Essays, 40-41 (1873 Synodal-Bericht des Westlichen Districts, 56).

        270 Concordia Theological Quarterly 75 (2011)

This is a great quotation for Walther's position.79 [Really? Admitting that Walther had a “great quotation”? Again, MacKenzie is loading his gun. This is the fourth statement in Walther’s favor.] Unfortunately, it is also somewhat [only “somewhat”? Why equivocate?] misleading, for it contains an ellipsis of over 40 lines [Oh my! How terrible! But I count only 33-36 lines, depending on how one counts them. See ellipsis image here. MacKenzie is guilty of exaggerating. Why?] (in the Walch edition to which the Proceedings refer 80) that qualifies greatly what Luther is saying. [As it should, to distinguish the revealed God from the hidden God!] Walther has omitted the reformer's statements regarding the hidden will of God that is very different from the revealed will. [So what?? As if Walther omitted these statements to deceive his readers! “over 40 lines?” But he only omitted them because they were not appropriate for his point. And MacKenzie is implying that Luther was also a Calvinist.] So, for example, Walther has omitted this statement, "But God hidden in his majesty neither deplores nor takes away death, but works life, death, and all in all,"81 and this one, "God does many things that he does not disclose to us in his word; he also wills many things which he does not disclose himself as willing in his word. Thus, he does not will the death of a sinner, according to his word, but he wills it according to that inscrutable will of his."82

Now it may [may?] be that one can actually rescue [“actually”? — But no “rescue” is needed for those who can read Luther properly! See Brenner and Siegbert Becker. MacKenzie cannot.] Bondage of the Will from the charge of Calvinism—and Walther returns to this task a couple more times in his essays to the Western District83—but Walther's citation from Luther in this instance is not a sufficient representation [Walther’s quote gets to the heart of Luther on the matter against Calvin, and MacKenzie wants to question this?] of what the reformer

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79 And it brings Luther right into line with the Formula. [Are you surprised by this MacKenzie?] This was basic to Walther's thinking about Luther—the reformer and the Lutheran Confessions spoke with one voice. [But does MacKenzie also bring “Luther right into line with the Formula”? The Formula itself does! But MacKenzie later says the “whole approach to Martin Luther as…infallible teacher” is “long gone”. If that is so, then MacKenzie is denying that his own teaching is “confessional” since the Confessions 1) state that they are scriptural and 2) praise Luther’s doctrine.] Cf. LuW 21 (1875): 67, in which Walther equates Luther with the Book of Concord, "They do not know us who label our theology that of the seventeenth century. As highly as we treasure the immense accomplishments of the great Lutheran dogmaticians of this period, it is nevertheless not really to them that we return, but rather above all to our precious Book of Concord and to Luther, in whom we recognize the man whom God chose as the Moses of his church of the New Covenant, to lead his church, which had fallen into slavery to the Antichrist, out of that slavery. He is the column of smoke and fire of the Word of God, clear and pure as gold as it is." Quoted and translated in Kolb, "Luther for German Americans," 99. [It appears that MacKenzie’s venom towards Walther, and Luther, may have been instigated by the “scholarship” of Dr. Kolb. He refers to Kolb about a dozen times in this essay.]

80 Johann Georg Walch, ed., D. Martin Luthers sowol in deutsche als lateinischer Sprache verfertigte und aus der letztem in die erstere übersetzte sämtliche Schriften, 24 vols. (Salle im Magdeburgischen: Druckts und verlegts Johann Justinus Gebauer, 1739-53).

81 LW 33:140. "Gott aber, wie er verborgen ist in der Majestät, trauert nicht, nimmt den Tod nicht weg, sondern wirket Tod, Leben, etc., alles in allen." Walch 18: col. 2235 [W2 (StL) 18, 1795; StL 18, 1795 (EN); WA 18:685].

82 LW 33:140. "Es thut Gott viel Dinges, das er uns durchs Wort nicht zeiget; er will auch viel Dinges, das er uns durchs Wort nicht zeiget, dass ers will. Also will er den Tod des Sünders nicht nach dem Willen, den er durchs Wort offenbaret hat; er will aber nach dem verborgenen, unerforschlichen Willen." Walch 18: col. 2236 [W2 (StL) 18, 1795].

83 1874, Convention Essays, 67-68 (1874 Synodal-Bericht des Westlichen Districts, 33- 36); and 1877, Essays 2: 142-143 [All Glory to God, p. 225-228] (1877 Synodal-Bericht des Westlichen Districts, 97-100). In the latter case, Predestination, Walther admits that "contrary to our usual practice," he has cited Luther rarely and undertakes to produce only passages that show he was not a Calvinist. [Burnell Eckhardt does the same here (Logia vol. 7 (1998), no. 4, pp. 23-30).] Presumably, there were other passages not so dear. [Why this critical remark? Implies that Luther was a Calvinist?] Walther also includes (p. 143) the same misleading [“misleading” according to MacKenzie.] quotation from Bondage of the Will that he had used in 1873.

MacKenzie: Walther's Use of Luther    271

actually said. Walther omitted the evidence that did not immediately confirm Walther's own position.84 [Why this comment if Walther proved his point? This is poor theology!]

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84 Another part of the problem may ["may"? Pure speculation.] be that Walther read Luther in the context of later Lutheranism. As Robert Kolb, "Interpreter of Luther," 482, suggests, "[Walther's] knowledge of Luther came from his own reading of the sources, but that reading has been poured into forms and categories dictated by later generations." [What?! We see more evidence of Dr. Kolb's speculative thinking influencing MacKenzie's thinking.]

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On page 273, MacKenzie makes the incredible statement:

"But Walther is long gone and so is his whole approach to Martin Luther as…infallible teacher."

This assertion is an untruth since Walther in the very same 1873 Western District essay stated that "Luther was not a prophet and apostle who could not have been mistaken", see AG1b blog, p. 48. In this essay, MacKenzie actually distances himself, and his LC–MS, not just from Walther and Luther, but from Lutheranism! One can only hope that Prof. Cameron MacKenzie has seen his error and turned from this venomous position. — In the next Part AG8a, the 1882 Western District essay.