On Church Unity: John Frederick, the Magnanimous (and F. Pieper)

From Lehre und Wehre, vol. 75 (1929), pg 205:

On the proper basis for [church] union Elector John Frederick of Saxony expressed himself in a writing from May 28, 1541 concerning the Colloquium of  Regensburg (1541) [or Diet of Regensburg] in the following way:

John Frederick the Magnanimous

"As we live, so shall by bestowal of the Almighty the words not occur to compare the religions by us, our people, but that they want to put forth this, and thereby remain: whoever wants to compare, then compare himself with God and his Word and accept the same and its doctrine, as we and others of this party have done.  Whoever wants to evade this with patchwork can go their way." (Seckendorf, Comm. De Lutheranismo III, 361.)

The pious and truly Lutheran elector has in these words described for the Church of all times the proper basis for church union.  Church unity comes into being always only this way, that those who have deviated from the Word of God return to it and so "compare themselves with God and His Word".   — Franz Pieper

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Franz Pieper carried the weight of the pure Gospel in meetings with other American Lutherans several times in the 20th century.  And sadly, these other American Lutherans would not come back to God's Word in the matters of Justification, Conversion, Inspiration and Inerrancy.  And I believe that Franz Pieper could see the weakness even within his own dear Missouri Synod on these matters and so he had to constantly delineate the proper basis for Church unity, as he did in the document that bears the stamp of his authorship:

The Brief Statement of 1932.

If Pieper was blind to this weakness among his brethren, then why else would he have admonished them to study his theses in his "Last Words" to his Missouri Synod?  Just as John Frederick was resolute for the Gospel and God's Word at the Diet of Regensburg, so Franz Pieper was resolute.  And the Brief Statement of 1932 stands, in spite of today's LC-MS doubts and disputations.
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Pieper references a source for his information on Elector John Frederick – Seckendorf's Commentary... .  I want to expand on this highly regarded work for the history of Lutheranism in my next blog post.

"Character building"... for Christian youth? (4-H, state schools)

From the Missouri Synod journal Lehre und Wehre vol. 75 (1929), pages 150-151:

"Character building" can certainly be referred to as the goal of pedagogy.  But we must not lose sight here of the fact that there are two types of characters, natural and Christian characters.  The natural character building takes place on the basis of natural law knowledge, which can be found even after the Fall in every human heart.  The Apostle describes this in the words of Rom. 2:14: "When the Gentiles, which have not the law [i.e. the written Law the same as the Jews], do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves."  This character building, where it succeeds, has value in the field of civil life.  The Apology of the Augsburg Confession praises it with these words (Article IV (II): Of Justification., paragr. 24, Triglotta pg 127): "In this life and in a worldly nature, nothing is ever better than uprightness and virtue, and Aristotle says aright: Neither the evening star [page 151] nor the morning star is more beautiful than righteousness, and God also honors it with bodily rewards."  But Christian character building takes place only on the basis of faith in the Gospel of the crucified Christ.  The apostle Paul was before and after his conversion a "character".  He was a natural character when he collided with the Gospel, as a persecutor of the Gospel and the Christian church.  When he had become by conversion a Christian character, he describes himself thus: "I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me", Gal. 2:20.  Therefore, we do not leave the character building of our children and our youth to the state schools and state educational institutions. – Franz Pieper.

Although Pieper here refers specifically to "state schools", yet he could have also referred to other "character building" institutions outside the church.  These have flooded our modern world with youth organizations like

• Boy Scouts
• 4-H
• sports (e.g. Soccer, etc. for "team building" skills)
• youth social societies, organizations, activities, etc.

4-H
I was enrolled in the 4-H program as a youth.  In certain ways, I thought it was beneficial – learning about various tree species, raising rabbits, etc.  But even today, 4-H describes itself thus:

As the youth development program of the Cooperative Extension System of land-grant universities, 4-H is the nation’s largest youth development organization, empowering six million young people throughout the United States...

Empowering for what?

THE 4-H PLEDGE (creed)

I pledge my head to clearer thinking,

My heart to greater loyalty,

My hands to larger service,

and my health to better living,

for my club, my community, my country, and my world.

I recall being confused in my youth, in my Christian faith, by the creed and aims of 4-H.  And viewed now in my faith, I recognize why it was confusing – it preaches a civil righteousness, a "character building" outside the Christian faith.  One may admit that it is less secret than the secret societies such as the Masonic Freemasons, yet its means are largely the same (it has a "creed") and just as dangerous for the Christian faith because it is aimed at the youth.  Whether state based education (pedagogy) or "character building" youth organizations, the effect is the same – a detriment to a young Christian faith, a detriment to Christian character.  As the Apology to the Augsburg Confession goes on after giving the righteousness of reason some praise, "yet it ought not to be praised with reproach to Christ".  I confess that my experience with 4-H was a "reproach to Christ" for me.  So also my "state school education" where it attempted to build my character.

Luther: Don’t leave heterodox church prematurely (Luther surprises?); "stand gallantly" in the Word

Franz Pieper recorded a wealth of spiritual counsel in his many years as president of Concordia Seminary, St. Louis.  On many occasions he gave a lesson from Luther.  In the last year of the journal Lehre und Wehre, before it was folded into Concordia Theological Monthly, Pieper extracted the following message from one of Luther's letters on the subject of church fellowship and it may be somewhat surprising to hear Luther's judgment on it.  In  Lehre und Wehre, vol. 75 (1929), pgs 148-149, Pieper published the following:

We have a warning of Luther against premature withdrawals from heterodox churches in a letter to the Elector John of Saxony.  (St. L. vol. 21 a, col. 1306-1309; German text here; not in Am. Ed.) This letter was dated May 25, 1529 and incidentally throws light on the uncertain relationship between the Diet of Speyer (1529) and the Diet at Augsburg (1530).  Luther expected before long a crucial change in the relationship of the Catholic and Evangelical parties to each other; "Because the matter cannot stand so for long"; "all things are now in the balance, and no one knows where God wants to let the eruption go."  The Elector wished to have Luther's advice in the matter of an abbot of a monastery who intended to withdraw from the Roman church, and who sought the Elector’s counsel.  This elicited Luther’s warning against premature withdrawals related to conversions.  Luther writes among other things: "Then would be my submissive concerns that I previously used myself toward all withdrawn people since still some people are not able to stand in your electoral grace – to not advise anyone or tell them to go out from the cloister or to change his religion.   Because since such things concern God and conscience, so one has the Word of God and the Scriptures that teach us what we should do and allow, not only by way of counsel but also by command.  That's why nobody may ask me whether to do this or that, but he watches, examines his own conscience, what he wants or likes to believe and do.  I cannot be called still further to advise him; because in the case where I counsel or advise him and he would yet be uncertain of the things and proceeds in doubt or has a wandering conscience, so do I partake of them and would be the cause of such sins against God.  It is not a small sin when something is done in doubt or unbelief (which is contrary to the first and second commandment); because God wants to have faith and not doubt. . . . on this the abbot is still otherwise.  Who knows, although he did believe, [page 148] whether he is also strong and firm enough in faith to endure future temptations?  As we read in Scripture and experience daily ourselves no end of what the devil and all the world aims at against the true faith, indeed also causes, and there is no end nor measure of the persecution and temptation.  Should now afterwards the abbot get an evil conscience, as often happens, and falls into remorse or [he] comes into misery, poverty, adversity, danger or other accident because of it and cannot suffer such things, and finally thinks back and seeks how there is now even much to do and be done, so he would be much better left alone now.  Therefore no one is to be counseled or told what he can do; it must here be every one himself to be master, guide and helper according to the divine Word, which is heard by a man and his heart, so that he may stand gallantly.  Your Electoral Grace has well experienced what the pious princess Duchess Ursula von Münsterberg has suffered over this." — Truely, a clear example of how Luther did not settle church matters externally, but wanted everything accomplished by the Word of God.             – Franz Pieper.

This short article by Pieper refers to a letter of Luther that has not been previously translated and published in English.  See my Luther's Letters posting for reference.  How rich these letters are for spiritual counsel! ... yet how many remain untranslated.  How refreshing to read of the pious Ursula von Münsterberg who found refuge in Luther's house after fleeing a convent because of Luther's doctrine (see here for more info).

I must admit that I too learned from Luther (and Pieper) on the matter spoken of here.  It is very easy to fall into a worldly state of mind when it comes to matters of church fellowship.  But Luther reminds us that his Reformation, the Lutheran Reformation, was strictly based on God's Word, not his.  And so it should be for every Christian...  Ah, but because Luther stands on that Word, as he clearly proved with this letter, then I shall listen to Luther... and Pieper.  They "stand gallantly".  And I shall tune out "the devil and all the world" because they can only go against God's Word...

Yea, let God be true, but every man a liar; as it is written, That thou mightest be justified in thy sayings, and mightest overcome when thou art judged. – Romans 3:4

Baier-Walther, Compendium Theologiae Positivae-v.1 digital text

(updated Nov. 24 to add Vol. I  Table of Contents)
NOTE: 2016-07-08 Updated to add links direct to the Google Docs files. See list at bottom.
2017-07-13: added link to Archive copy of Index "Volume IV"
I have previously written about this work on several occasions.  It is a different kind of publication from the old (German) Missouri Synod for it is primarily in Latin, typeset in a Roman font, not the Fraktur font.  But it also has German, Greek, and Hebrew wording as well.  These are the languages of theology through the ages.  The English language is only important in the last century, and even then as secondary to the others.  O, if only I could be a scholar in these languages and not be so tied to the English language!

There are 132 references to this work in Franz Pieper's 3-volume Christian Dogmatics (C.D.) textbooks:

1. C.D. Vol. 1: 68 references
2. C.D. Vol. 2: 40 references
3. C.D. Vol. 3: 24 references

Clearly, Pieper did not hide the fact that his textbooks used Walther's work as one of his major foundations.  And its contents will be largely understood by following Pieper's references to it.

The Baier-Walther Compendium has been made available again in print in recent years as reproductions of the originals (essentially scanned images) by Emmanuel Press here.  But these do not include the digitized text.  Since this work is considered "Walther's textbook", the one he used during his days of teaching, I consider it to have great value, and I am presenting the digital text, in the original languages.  In previous years this would have no value for laymen because its languages were incomprehensible.  But with today's Internet tools, digitization and Google Translate (even for Latin), it is within our grasp so that the general meaning of the text can be readily determined by copying relevant texts into Google Translate for Latin or German.

I am beginning now with Volume 1.  This text is the output of OCR software from scans of the original books (not from Emmanuel Press) with some corrections of OCR errors in the Latin and German portions.  Although it will be readily seen that this is far from perfect, yet there are far less errors of text than in the Google Books "plain text" OCR copy.  No attempt was made to correct the Greek and Hebrew words because of my lack of familiarity with them.  To get the exact Greek and Hebrew texts, the user will need to either download the book scan from Google Books or purchase the reproductions from Emmanuel Press which are reasonably priced.
             - - - - - - - -  Table of Contents, Vol. I  - - - - - - - -
               CONSPECTUS VOLUMINIS PRIMI.

M. Joh. Casp. Zeumeri Vita Joh. Guil. Baieri, Epist. dedicatoria,

        Praefatio etc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p.III. sqq.

                     PROLEGOMENA.

CAP. I. De natura et constitutione theologiae. . . . . . . . . .  p.  1. sqq.

          ubi speciatim de theologia naturali . . . . . . . .  .  p.  6. sqq.

                                  de revelata . . . . . . . . . . p. 30. sqq.

CAP. II. De principio theologiae revelatae seu deScriptura sacra  p. 79. sqq.

     Download PDF file (searchable) ==>> here <<==  (7 MB)

     Download DOCX file   ==========> here <==  (.5 MB) (or here)

"Walther's Textbook", Volume I (189 pages)

     There are earlier editions of Baier's work (e.g. Preuss edition), but they do not compare to this edition by Walther, for it is Walther's added quotes that gives this work its real value.  Just as Luther had to judge the Church Fathers where they erred, so Walther had to judge where Baier or other "orthodox Lutheran theologians" went astray and make corrections in their erroneous statements.  As Emmanuel Press says, the Index Volume IV gives “several of Baier’s phrases, opinions, and modes of teaching, of which Dr. Walther did not approve.”  And the one review on Amazon by "John D. Kronen" utterly misses the mark as this work was not for "scholars" but rather for Christian teaching, including the "disastrous doctrines of the verbal inspiration and inerrancy of Scripture".
     You will find many points of interest in this text when explored.  For example Walther quotes the Koran on pages 130-131.
= = = = = = = =   Table of Contents   = = = = = = = = =
NOTE: 2016-07-08 Updated to add links direct to the above Google Docs files. —  [HathiTrust list]
Volume I (Prolegomena; updated Nov. 21) (published Google Docs here) [Ggl Books here and here]
Volume II (posted Nov. 20) (published Google Docs here)                  [Ggl Books here]; HathiTrust here]
Volume IIIa (posted Nov. 23) (published Google Docs here)                [Ggl Books here]
Volume IIIb (posted Nov. 24) (published Google Docs here)
Index ("Volume IV") (published Google Docs here)               [Archive- book copy here]

Rome–4: Halloween, reminder of Pope; simple Gospel; Knights of the saddest figure

      This concludes from Part 3 (Table of Contents in Part 1) a translation of Franz Pieper's essay on the failure of the evangelical churches of Germany to fight against the Papacy in his day.
      The terms that Pieper uses against the Roman papal church remind one of the "entertainment" of the season popularly known as "Halloween".  But as Christians, we should look on the worldly notions of horror as not just "make-believe" or imaginary, but very real when we see the real atrocities done by the Chief Enemy of Christianity, the Pope.  So when I see all the "scary" things the world shoves in my face to "celebrate" Halloween, I rather see the Pope behind the mask.

Translation by BTL – Underlining from original  – Highlighting is mine – Hyperlinks added for reference.

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The False Stance of Present-Day Evangelical Christianity Against Rome.

by Franz Pieper

Doctrine and Defense, (Lehre und Wehre), 1896, vol 42, pgs 289-297
--------   concluding from Part 3  ---------

[pg 295]

The writer in the Saxon Church and School Journal noted that the central press, particularly the Berlin Germania, leads a challenging language; however from the evangelical side was "avoided a long time ago with scrupulous care everything that would cause the least offense to the standing of the Catholic sister church".  What a pathetic state of affairs!  The Pope's disciples open their big mouth wide, and praise their anti-Christian master and his soul murdering doctrines and institutions, and blaspheme Christ, and the Holy Gospel.  But Christ's disciples will not open their mouths against these anti-Christian demonstrations to praise their dear Savior and His saving Gospel!  And why?  One wants to not cause the slightest "offense" to the “Catholic sister church”!   Is therefore the Christian church giving offense when it confesses the truth against committed enemies and blasphemers of Christ and his gospel?  If they thereby give offense, so that is the offense which it should give in the world; the offense of which the apostle says, "We preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness," 1 Cor. 1:23; the offense, of which it stands written: "Behold, I lay in Zion a stumblingstone and rock of offence: and whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed”, Rom. 9:33; the offense of which the Lord says: "Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword." Matt. 10:34.  If you want to have absolute outer peace on earth, you must renounce your membership in the Christian church, since the Christian church is not for the concealment, but the confession of the Gospel in the world.  But the confession of the Gospel will always be exposed to the hostility of the world and the false church. —  Still another reason for the neglect of the struggle against Rome is stated by a writer in the Leipzig General Evangelical Lutheran Church Newspaper.  He says the following against Prof. Dr. Fricke, who struck a "slightly sharp tone" against the Roman Church at this year's meeting of the Gustavus Adolphus Union: "Who actually profits from such battle speeches?  But probably initially the Roman Church, which, as a glimpse of the ultramontane press amply proves, with pleasure widely occurs such occurrences to show that not Catholics, but Evangelicals are the disturbers of the peace, that therefore the Catholics had full rights to search out their great arsenal for not-so-clean weapons to inflict all possible damage on the Evangelicals."  Translated into simple German this means: "Let us avoid the struggle against Rome, because in such

[pg 296]

battles we yet only come out as losers."  Has the writer considered what a disgrace he is doing to the Evangelical Church?  On our side, the Evangelical side, (we speak in the name of all those who are truly evangelical) is the divine truth; on the side of the Pope and those under him is the lie.  We have God for us, while the Papists have God against them.  And we should avoid now doing battle, because we have to worry about yet only a defeat in the same!  Christ has therefore sat at the right hand of God, given his church the Gospel, promised her mouth and wisdom, as well as victory, so that they are dismayed and ask of the enemies of Christ and his Gospel for peace and good weather!  Truly, the voice of that writer in the Leipzig General Evangelical Lutheran Church Newspaper is not the voice of the evangelical church.  The truly evangelical church knows Rome far, far superior to this.  Rome comes out the loser in the battle every time when this Evangelical church fights it as she should fight, that is, if she leads a real doctrinal battle against Rome, when she opposes the Roman lies at all points with clear, certain truths of Scripture.  She is as much stronger than Rome as God is stronger than the devil and all accomplices of the devil.  Rome may open all its arsenals and all projectiles which are at its disposal, also shoot at us the most dirty things.  It can do nothing against us.  We have the arsenal of the clear, infallible Word of God, by which we break all the weapons of the enemy, throw him out of all his positions and completely beat down the line.  "For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds; Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God”, 2 Cor. 10:4-5.  O, if today's so-called evangelical Christianity would yet again reflect on the invincible power of the simple Gospel of Christ!  With the simple Gospel of Christ we overcome sin and death, as well as the papacy and all satanic powers.  Dr. Hölscher from Leipzig quite rightly said, when giving the annual report at the meeting of the Gustavus Adolphus Union: "The only thing we have to oppose Rome is the Gospel of Christ.  A congregation collected by the Gospel is insurmountable.  Therefore fear you not, little flock!"

That most spokesmen of the present-day evangelical Christendom take such an unsatisfactory, yes, miserable stand against Rome, is because they do not live in the evangelical truth and are not certain of it.  

Indeed, they have through subversion of the divine authority the Holy Scriptures, so far as it is in them, taken the true weapon against Rome out of the hands of evangelical Christendom.  They have devoted themselves to “science”, which is just as incapable against the infernal power of Rome

[pg 297]

like all other human thoughts and instruments of power.  Would that it be known that modern theology has been entangled in a pitiful position on quite the wrong track especially against Rome.  One sees that they indeed neither teach Christianity nor can fight back its enemies.  They are Knights of the saddest figure, to the delight of the Pope and the great sorrow and dishonor of the Evangelical church.  Would that they remember from whence they fell!  If they return to the heritage of the Reformation, so would they soon take the right firm and certain stance in opposition to Rome and win one victory after another against it.

— Franz Pieper

= = = = = = = =  End of Essay  = = = = = = = =

I had private correspondence from a German layman some time ago noting that I wrote with "a passion".  Would to God that I had just a small portion of the passion that President/Prof. Franz Pieper had for the "simple Gospel of Christ"!

Dr. Wilhelm Hölscher

     Germany was not without some voices for the truth of the Gospel, and Pieper is happy to quote from them.  In particular Dr. Wilhelm Hölscher stands out as he spoke the following words:

"The only thing we have to oppose Rome is the Gospel of Christ.  A congregation collected by the Gospel is insurmountable.  Therefore fear you not, little flock!"

May his name be remembered in Germany today!  

Which was worse for you, Dresden Germany?(capital of Saxony)

(image sources Wikipedia left, right)

Priest/Prince Max preaching
in your royal chapel:
"Evangelicals: convert to Pope!"

Your bombing in 1945 which
"destroyed almost all of the ancient center of the city"

or

In the light of the true Gospel uncovered again by Martin Luther, the true horror is revealed – the Roman Papacy in your midst going nearly unchecked.  Germany, there is your real horror... not your defeats in 2 World Wars, but you rather gave away God's gift to you, your own Lutheran Reformation.

"O, if today's so-called evangelical Christianity would yet again reflect on the invincible power of the simple Gospel of Christ!"
                        — President Franz Pieper, Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, Missouri

Romans 11:6 – "If by grace, then is it no more of works..."

Rome–3: Pope=Antichrist because...; Dresden's fall

      This continues from Part 2 (Table of Contents in Part 1), a translation of Franz Pieper's essay on the failure of the evangelical churches of Germany to fight against the Papacy in his day.
      No one in the world since Franz Pieper attacked the Roman papacy more forcefully than he did.  Even during his lifetime, Pieper was the foremost head of the Lutheran Church in the world, leading the spiritual war against ... the Antichrist.  Today, when a well-known pastor of the LC-MS (Richard John Neuhaus) "converts" to be a Roman Catholic priest, he is given honor... in today's LC-MS.  So what are these "Lutherans" who honor Roman Catholics but imposters? ... Lutheran in name only.
     Every true Lutheran should have this pronouncement of the Council of Trent framed and hanging on the wall to remind him of the real reason why the Pope IS the Antichrist:

If any one saith, that men are justified, either by the sole imputation of the justice (righteousness) of Christ, or by the sole remission of sins, to the exclusion of the grace and the charity which is poured forth in their hearts by the Holy Ghost, and is inherent in them; or even that the grace, whereby we are justified, is only the favour of God; let him be anathema. 

          — Council of Trent, Sessio VI, Canon XI

I believe the Pope is the Antichrist because he curses all of Christianity that relies solely on God's grace.  Romans 11:6 - "If by grace, then is it no more of works..."

Translation by BTL – Underlining from original  – Highlighting is mine – Hyperlinks added for reference.

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =

The False Stance of Present-Day Evangelical Christianity Against Rome.

by Franz Pieper

Doctrine and Defense, (Lehre und Wehre), 1896, vol 42, pgs 289-297
--------   cont'd from Part 2  ---------

[pg 293]

It can be clearly seen that a man alone by God's grace for the sake of Christ's substitutionary life, suffering and death, that is, through faith in the Gospel, obtains forgiveness of sins and salvation.  The saving truth has disappeared from Christian doctrine, as soon as one sets up grace and salvation on human works and worthiness.  Now what does the Prince of Saxony, who is in the full service of the Papacy, make of it according to his own preaching?  The whole great machinery of the papacy works, as mentioned above, directly and indirectly in the interest of a basic cataclysm, the heretical destruction of the Christian faith, that a man is justified and saved not by grace alone, for Christ's sake, but also by human works.  Everything you see in the Papacy is in the service of a repeal of the doctrine of grace.  Through the Papacy the souls are therefore not care for, but through the Papacy, so far as it is in him, continually leads the souls only to eternal damnation, because the Scripture says those who deal with works of the Law are under a curse (Gal. 3:10).  The papacy is the greatest fraud company in the world.  It calls the individual and all the people to itself by claiming to be the "alone saving church", claiming to be the "one and only truth", as the Prince of Saxony has duped those coming to him, who instead of offering the saving Gospel, offers to lead one to damnation by a doctrine of works.  If there are nevertheless still souls, – and there are such – that under the papacy trust solely on the merit of Christ and become saved, so this is done against the will and the intention of the papacy.  The papacy itself holds these souls with the curse where it says in the Council of Trent: "If any one saith, that men are justified, either by the sole imputation of the righteousness of Christ, or by the sole remission of sins. .., Let him be anathema." 1)  St. Paul, in Gal. 1:8-9, cursed all false teachers which distort the Gospel of God's free grace in Christ; the papacy in Trent cursed all who teach and believe this Gospel. Yes, this is the Papacy as it has been around for centuries and still is today, and how it does its uncanny work among the Nations!  A "priest" will help the papacy, and thereby assumes the obligation upon himself, to run the business of the papacy in the world, and has about the most unfortunate employment that a young man can choose under God's approval.  And now the Popish Mass is first celebrated so "officially" in the Dresden royal chapel!  The Mass stands so surely in the service of the  anti-christian abomination, the denial of Christ and his

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        1) Sessio VI, Canon XI. [see also Formula of Concord]

[pg 294]

Gospel.  Through the pretense that in the Mass through the hand of the priests, Christ continually becomes sacrificed for the living and the dead, those present and those absent, as the atonement of sin, so will Christ’s all-sufficient, once offered sacrifice become constantly blasphemed, and the poor, deluded souls are thereby kept away continually from finding faith in the forgiveness of sins in the Gospel and being established in the service of the Gospel by the Sacraments.  Luther says of himself: "These are my greatest sins, because I was so holy a monk, and with so many Masses over fifteen years so horribly angered, tortured and tormented my dear Lord." 1)  The Popish Mass is, as Luther so often points out, not serving God, but the devil. 2)  What the Papists sacrifice in the Mass, they sacrifice to the devils.  And the matter is thereby not changed because Max of Saxony serves as "sacrificial priest" and is watched by the Saxon court and many "high invited guests".  And how are Evangelical Christians to judge the sermon of a popish priest?  They know that in the Christian church only God's Word must be preached, but all doctrines of men are forbidden.  For all the doctrines in the Church stand on the rule of St. Peter: "If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God," 1 Peter 4:11  In the church of God, obedience may be claimed only for God’s Word.  But the papal preacher calls for obedience to the Pope's words before all things.  This Prince Max von Saxony has just done.  He has in his homily urged all non-papists to submit to the Pope.  He immediately introduced himself as a loyal helper of the Antichrist, who "will not permit Christians to be saved without his power, which, nevertheless, is nothing, and is neither ordained nor commanded by God". 3)

This and other things should have been explained in Germany, and particularly in Saxony, when one must take notice of the priest's ordination, Mass reading and sermon of the prince of Saxony.  Thereby the evangelical Christians would have been promoted in the confession of the Gospel and would have been given a salutary warning of the papacy.  Perhaps also one or another one entangled in the papacy would have had their eyes opened.  In any event, one would have satisfied the Christian’s confessional duty.  But we have not seen growth by this God-given opportunity.  

One has not in general revealed the abomination of the papacy and in particular the Mass.  One has not confessed, but has denied.  The poor people had sand scattered in their eyes when the papal church is spoken of as a "sister church" and it was left open the possibility that due to the

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1) St. L. ed. vol. 20, 1103, paragr. 541; Am. Ed. vol. 37, pg 371; “Confession Concerning Christ's Supper (1528)”

2) Compare Luther's strong, but quite proper expressions in St. L. vol. 19, col. 1233 f. ; Am. Ed. vol. 38, pg 160 f.: “The Private Mass and the Consecration of the Priests (1533)”

3) Smalcald Articles, Part II, Art. IV, paragr. 10.

[pg 295]

real popish preaching of the Prince of Saxony, the salvation of the souls of the congregation was being promoted.

= = = = = = = =  Cont'd in Part 4  = = = = = = = =

Germany!

How low you are held in the eyes of the world today!  Your past defeats in 2 World Wars, the bombing of Dresden and particularly the stain of the memory of your leader Adolf Hitler... these are what the world would have us think of you now, at least from the last century.  But there was something far worse for you that preceded all these... it was your fall from the Lutheran doctrine and your subsequent failure to fight against the Antichrist.  It was a Roman Catholic priest preaching in your Dresden royal chapel to your Saxon King in 1896!  Now the world attempts to see signs of life in you, from your Hermann Sasse to even Dietrich Bonhoeffer, but these offered little to almost nothing for the defense of the true doctrine...  they at times even scorned the old (German) Missouri Synod's faithfulness to true Christian doctrine and its pure fight against Rome.  Germany!... you were duped! ... duped away from your Reformation heritage!

America!

Although you do not currently have the outer stains like Germany does, yet are you not just as weak like Germany was 100+ years ago... in your softness against the Papacy?  Your theologians, let alone your media, gush at news items relating to the Papacy...

LC-MS, Lutheran Church-"Missouri Synod"

Whatever you are, you are not the old (German) Missouri Synod, for it was the Lutheran Church from above that stood by the Gospel, that pointed to Martin Luther who restored the pure Gospel again to the world... Martin Luther who showed the world who the Antichrist was –> the Pope who still curses all of Christianity.

The next Part 4 concludes this series where Pieper turns up the heat against the lies of the Pope.