“…the head bowed. Thus peacefully dies God's Son” – H. Fick's “Seven Words” for Holy Week

      On March the 30th, 2021, as I was OCR'ing the text of the volumes of Der Lutheraner, I ran across Pastor Herman Fick's sacred poem (translated) "The Seven Words of Christ on the Cross." After getting the original German text cleaned up, I decided to run it through the DeepL free online translator… and O!… I just sat there in awe that a machine translation could handle the poetic prose so well.  I sat there for the next hour in joyful devotion, and had to share it on my blog for this Holy Week:

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(Sent in by Pastor Fick.)

The Seven Words of Christ on the Cross.

Part 1: Der Lutheraner, v. 28, p. 81, March 1, 1872

First and second words.

When the Lord carried his cross to the place Golgotha, And now was struck on it: What agony he felt there! When the iron of torture passed through his feet and hands, And he hung suffering without end between two murderers.

Should not his enemies, who crucified the Son of God, For their blasphemy, for their mockery deserve Hell as the reward of their atrocities? But the Savior now pleads, "Alas! forgive, O Father, them. Who know not what they do."

You pleaded with many tears even for me on the cross. Sacrificed with hot longing for us sinners thy prayer, That the Father may forgive us;

Therefore grant me thy mercy, That through thee I may live forever Pure from all sin's guilt.

How full of the flame of love His mother's need felt!

Who stood by the trunk of his cross With a torn heart: for ere she had sorrow lamented her sorrow to him. In his heart he had already thought to care for her.

Has looked upon her comfortingly. Speaks to her with faithful tone, When he sees John standing: "Behold, woman, this is your son!" And to the disciple: "This is your mother!" who on this word now took Mary as his Mother into his house immediately.

Lord, before your departure you honored your mother faithfully, and in your great suffering you gave her a gift: Thou wilt also mildly give daily shelter and bread to mine; Let me also in thy image be the support of my parents.

Part 2: March 15, 1872

Third to seventh words.

One of the murderers said: "Are you Christ, help yourself!" in mockery; When the other asked punishingly: "Are you not afraid of God? We must now receive the guilty punishment for the murder; But this one has never transgressed with a single word."

Then he asked the Lord: "Lord, remember me too. When thou art entered into thy kingdom." And the Lord graciously said, "Truly, you will be with me this very day in Paradise!" Took him as the first spoil of victory into His heaven.

Jesus, who gave paradise to this thief for nothing, when the sinful criminal also called you his master; you invited all: He that believeth shall be saved. Not by works, no! by grace, - JEsu! ah, remember me.

When the Jews and the Gentiles all scorned Christ. And to his great suffering added mockery's torment, Creation deeply felt its Creator's bitter chastisement: Suddenly at noon the sun's bright glow vanished.

Black eclipses lay mourning over sea and land, To lament the sufferings. Which God's Son felt: Sufferings from hell, not to be grasped, That he cried, "My God, my God! Why hast thou forsaken me?" O of the deep distress of soul!

JEsu! ah, now you sank in the midst of the deepest torment: you suffered for all the bitter woe of damnation, all the eternal torments of death, the anguish of hell and the judgment of wrath, to pay for our guilt: - JEsu! ah, do not leave me.

For three hours darkness shrouded the land. When the sun again filled this world with its light. Since the Lord on the cross now knew. That according to God's Word all that had to be done had been accomplished: "I thirst!" he cried.

All strength is gone from him At the bitter wood of torture, When His heart, like wax, melted in the anguish of death. Alas! wounded and bruised, His holy blood flows away, And He, exhausted by plagues, feels the hot glow of "thirst.

God's Lamb! who can fathom thy suffering's great host?

Who, because of our sins, have now submerged you like a sea. — Ah! thy holy body endures all the torment and agony, Which my sinful flesh is guilty of: Therefore, O Lord, have mercy on me!

No one refreshes the Prince of Life, When He bears witness to His torment: Vinegar is given to Him in His thirst Under mockery. When the Lord took of it. Said He, "It is finished!" Saying thus, it is come Now the goal of the night of suffering.

Yes, with joy you have accomplished your Father's will there; Yes, thou hast accomplished thy suffering And the seer's holy word; Yes, accomplished is the payment For the sins of all the world; Yea, the redemption is accomplished Through thy dear ransom.

Lamb of God, you gave yourself for us on the altar of the cross; Offering for us with thy life A perfect sacrifice.

Yes! with one sacrifice you made us eternally righteous. Since thou didst offer thyself as a sacrifice For the human race.

Behold now, O my soul, how the Lord passed death. Crying, "Father, I commit My spirit into Thy hand."

And the noble victory testifies His call's mighty sound; Softly thereupon, the head bowed. Thus peacefully dies God's Son.

And at the same moment there is a roar through the temple house: and the curtain is torn in pieces from top to bottom, indicating that Christ has now entered the eternal sanctuary to receive praise and glory from the Father.

Thundering the wide earth trembles, As in deepest sorrowful wrath: So with grieving gesture it raises its voice of lamentation.

Behold! even the rocks wail, And tear and break; And the chambers of many saints are opened, who are first-begotten.

When the nations see this, that he raises such a cry, All the signs that happen, that the earth trembles with thunder: The warrior band trembles and trembles at the mighty death of the Lord, And deeply shaken confess: This is truly God!

Christ, thou Lamb of God, when my heart breaks in death, graciously bend to me and show me thy friendly face; Show me thy love-fire, How thou didst die for my guilt, And take my spirit, thou faithful God, To thee full of everlasting grace.

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      Would that some some talented Lutheran, such as Pastor Joel Baseley or Matthew Carver would take Fick's original German and produce it in rhyming verse in English for devotional purposes.  But one may still enjoy Fick's poem even without this, as I certainly did. 

Socialist violence in a church – Walther's 1884 report: “freedom” to rampage

      The Socialists never fooled C. F. W. Walther, like they do most Americans today.  Even now it seems that people are more interested in their physical and commercial well-being, than defending against the wide-spread ideology of Socialism in America today.  What we hear occasionally reported today in America was also happening in Germany in Walther's day.  The 1884 Der Lutheraner, p. 21 contains Walther's news and commentary (translation by BackToLuther):

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What kind of spiritual children the Socialists are was once again clearly revealed in a church in Vienna on December 30 of last year [1883]. When a Catholic priest by the name of Hammerle preached on “Christian love and charity” in the evening service before an audience of about 2,000, and in doing so lashed out against Socialism, a whistle suddenly sounded which was the signal for a general uproar. In all parts of the church the present Socialists rose up, and among the shouting and whistling the cry rang out: “Out with the Jesuit!”, whereupon one stone after another flew toward the pulpit. Everything got into the highest excitement, and when finally a bad boy shouted loudly “Fire!” through the whole church, such a great fright took possession of those present that everyone rushed toward the exits, so that incalculable misfortune could easily have happened. However, only about a dozen people were injured and the priest, whom they intended to stone, escaped with his skin intact. However, this incident has once again made it quite clear what the Socialists actually mean when they shout: “Freedom and equality!” They demand that they be allowed the freedom to go on the rampage in their meetings against everything that does not think like them in a socialist way; but to speak publicly against them is considered by them a crime worthy of death. W. [Walther]

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      One may note that Walther stays focused against Socialism in this report and does not defend against Catholicism, as he does in many other places. "Social Democracy" today would promote its "peaceful transition from capitalism to socialism" (Wikipedia), but at its core, it will always revert to a "revolutionary approach to transition." — The true, Old “Missouri Synod” was always vehemently opposed to Socialism.  It is a spiritual, not political, matter. And this blog is committed to being “publicly against them.”  What would Luther say?  Listen to Walther.

What is it? (Balthasar Meisner)

      In the 1880 Der Lutheraner (vol. 36), p. 117 is a short blurb inserted, possibly by Walther, that gives 9 short statements.  We translate from the German:

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What is it?

1. God gives it.
2. Christ acquires it.
3. The Word proclaims it.
4. Faith receives it.
5. The Sacraments seal it.
6. The Holy Spirit confirms it.
7. The works testify it.
8. The Creed proves it.
9. The Last Day opens it.

      The old theologian Balthasar Meisner writes in 1611 that he received these “truly golden” statements from the pious ancients.

Pres. Egger quotes Walther; “sacred Scriptures… cannot be broken”?

      In recent weeks the announcement came out of Concordia Seminary–St. Louis of the election of the new president of Concordia Seminary, Prof. Thomas Egger (↗). I took the time to transcribe the text of his acceptance address published on YouTube.  While we remain quite skeptical that Egger can turn this Seminary towards its foundation, yet it was at least a joy for me that he quoted C. F. W. Walther.  Since watching this video, I have also discovered the original German publication of Walther's address that President Egger quoted.  And so I present the full text of Egger's address, taken from the transcription of his words on YouTube, which may have been published elsewhere:

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Greetings to the Concordia community in the name of Jesus Christ. On Saturday February 6, the Board of Regents and the presidential electors extended to me a divine call to serve as President of Concordia Seminary succeeding our beloved Dale Meyer. It is with much joy and anticipation and also with prayers to God for wisdom and grace and with some trembling that I announced today the acceptance of this call. The Lord has been so kind to me in calling a poor miserable sinner to speak in His name and to serve His dear bride the church first as a pastor at Zion Lutheran Church in Storm Lake, Iowa. Wonderful years that I will never forget. And for the last 16 years as a professor of Old Testament here at the Seminary studying the sacred Scriptures with many of you. Also wonderful years that I will never forget. And now He has called me to serve His dear church as Seminary president and to lead this renowned seminary into the heart of the 21st century. These are strange days for the church for a number of reasons. Challenging days. As the Apostle Paul said, with a healthy dose of reality, the days are evil. More and more it would seem our witness to Jesus Christ before the world will be a witness that proceeds from apparent weakness and lowliness but we do not lose heart for the Lord Jesus has redeemed us to be His own and to live under him in his kingdom and to serve him in righteousness, innocence, and blessedness forever. We do not lose heart even in our weakness and lowliness, for we are weak and lowly. But it is not ourselves that we proclaim but Jesus Christ as Lord and ourselves as servants for Jesus sake. The mission of Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, is to serve church and world by providing theological education and leadership centered in the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ for the formation of pastors, missionaries, deaconesses, scholars, and leaders in the name of the Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod. This is an amazing place to be, Concordia Seminary. When our forefathers planted this seminary here on these 72 acres they planted it firmly. Walk around these grounds, walk in the midst of these imposing stone buildings, our stately chapel, the towering tower. Our forefathers planted this place firmly with great love and labor and sacrifice. They planted it for the sake of the Gospel and for the sake of our confession. This seminary has served the Lutheran Church for 182 years and this campus has stood here for almost 100. But it is firmly planted, and by God's grace, if Jesus doesn't come first, I hope the Concordia Seminary will continue to serve the Lutheran Church for three or four hundred more years. The distinct role of Concordia Seminary flows from our Lutheran confession of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. This Gospel is distinct, true, and desperately needed. In Apology Article 4, Melancthon writes this Gospel illumines and magnifies the honor of Christ and brings to pious consciences the abundant consolation that they need.  

Our Seminary is named Concordia in the hope that this school will always stand firm and unified in this confessional teaching and our Seminary's motto. Light from above emphasizes that this Gospel, in all its articles, comes to us by gracious divine revelation in Jesus, who is the light of the world, [4:19 mark] and in the sacred Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments which cannot be broken. Dr. C. F. W. Walther, our first seminary president, pledged this about the seminary in 1883. Walther wrote:

“in this house neither the word of man nor the wit and wisdom of man but rather the Word of God and the entire Word of God and that which serves the elucidation and application of that Word shall be studied with unwearied diligence day after day from the first rays of the morning until late after nightfall”. 

Concordia Seminary exists to further the proper understanding and the energetic promulgation of heavenly Scriptural doctrine so full of Christ. This is our service to church and world. This is our service to the church and to the world. I thank God for the privilege of sharing this work with you dear brothers and sisters. “I am the vine you are the branches” Jesus said. “He who abides in me and I in him he bears much fruit for apart from me you can do nothing.” But we do not labor apart from Jesus, thanks be to God. May our gracious Lord bless you all richly in His Son and may He bless and further the work of this Seminary.

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I suspect that Walther's address in 1883 for the opening of the new Seminary building was translated into English and published but I have not taken the time yet to find it yet.  One may click on the image of the Der Lutheraner page above to see the specific paragraph that President Egger quoted from.  The original German text of the full paragraph reads:

     In diesem Hause soll nicht Menschenwort und Menschenwitz und -Weisheit, sondern Gottes Wort, und zwar nichts als Gottes Wort und das ganze Wort Gottes, und was der Aufschließung und dem Gebrauch desselben dient, mit unermüdlichem Fleiße studiert werden, Tag für Tag, vom ersten Morgenstrahl bis hinein in die sinkende Nacht. Dieses Haus ist daher auch keineswegs um seiner Bewohner willen so herrlich geschmückt worden, sondern um des Wortes Gottes willen, welches darin eine Wohnstätte haben soll.

which translates into English as

     In this house, not the word of men and the wit and wisdom of men, but the Word of God, and nothing but the Word of God and the whole Word of God, and what serves to open it up and to use it, is to be studied with untiring diligence, day after day, from the first ray of morning until the setting night. Therefore, this house was not decorated so splendidly for the sake of its inhabitants, but for the sake of the Word of God, which should have a dwelling place in it.

      Unfortunately one is reminded of another high LC-MS official who quoted Walther during his time of being elected into a leadership office: LC-MS President Matthew Harrison.  And this blog has documented numerous doctrinal areas in which Harrison and his LC-MS have departed from Lutheranism and away from Walther's true Lutheran teaching.  One must judge President Egger's teaching, and not just this fine sounding acceptance address. Does Egger defend Profs. Kloha and Voelz in their false teaching against Inerrancy?  Does he follow Prof. Martin Franzmann († 1976), who, in response to the question of what Scripture passages support the doctrine of “Inerrancy”, stated that “There are none.” — It remains to be seen just how “firmly planted” Egger is, how Lutheran he is, when he confessed that

“the sacred Scriptures… cannot be broken” — John 10:35

3: Pieper's last book, full English translation (BTL Books)

      This concludes from Part 2 and presents a full English translation of Pieper's last book, published in 1930.  We read from his Foreword in the last Part 2 how this book was conceived and laid out. We found that it is intended for the lay people because of it brevity. — The following translation is not as polished from the machine translation as some other books I have published, but it is surprisingly readable.  I have added hyperlinks to the sub-sections for ease of navigation.  Translation by BTL using DeepL:

A DOCX version of the above may be downloaded here; a PDF version here; the German text is still under copyright and so it is not being presented (yet), but one can get most of the German text from the original 1880 edition in Part 1.

2: Pieper's Last Book, 50 years later: Augsburg Confession (1930), Part 2 of 3

      This continues from Part 1 which introduced Franz Pieper's first book, a history and explanation of the Augsburg Confession. This book was updated and reissued 50 years later, in 1930, for the 400th anniversary of the Augsburg Confession.  This became Pieper's last book.  As I did in the Part 1, I will be publishing an English translation of this 1930 edition later.  But first, I would highlight again the importance of it. 

      In the year 2027, the Formula of Concord will celebrate its 450th anniversary.  Three years later, in 2030, the Augsburg Confession will be 500 years old.  But 150 years ago these documents were not so well known or celebrated in America.  With two books, Walther's in 1877 and Pieper's in 1880, America saw the Lutheran Church firmly planted:

Walther:  Formula of Concord (1877)       ●          Pieper:  Augsburg Confession (1880)

      Although Pieper's full "Foreword" will be presented in Part 3, I would highlight portions of it in this blog post to familiarize the reader with this book and its background (translation by BTL using DeepL):

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Foreword. 

Pieper – Augsburg Confession reprint

This is the reprint of a small paper written by the undersigned fifty years ago to celebrate the three hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the Augsburg Confession. The reprint was in no way initiated by me. Our publishing house informed me: "The committee for the four hundred year jubilee celebration of the Augustana suggests to us the idea of offering your work of 1880 to our audience again as a jubilee gift". I believed that I should refuse my consent. I still remembered that already fifty years ago I did not really like the writing. It had to be written in a hurry due to circumstances, and I thought that it did not do justice to the great cause. Now, a few days ago, I was advised to leave it to other people to judge whether the writing of fifty years ago could still be of service today. So the booklet may go out again.

Fifty years ago, our publishing house wanted the book to correspond as closely as possible to Dr. Walther's [Formula of Concord] Core and Star [Kern und Stern] in terms of scope and arrangement of the material. Three years earlier, in 1877, on the occasion of the tercentenary of the completion of the Formula of Concord, Walther had published the small book Der Concordienformel Kern und Stern. He did this on behalf of the Synodal Conference. …

Three years later (1880), when it was a question of writing a small book on the Augsburg Confession for our Lutheran Christian people, our publishing house and also one of my colleagues wanted me to design my book in such a way that it resembled [Walther's book] "Kern und Stern" in terms of number of pages and external layout. I have complied with this wish. In the preceding historical introduction, I tried to show how, after the ghastly darkness under the papacy, the glorious light came to shine upon us from the Augsburg Confession. Spalatin said of the day on which this glorious confession of the entire Christian doctrine was presented before all of Germany, indeed before the whole world: "That was a day on which one of the greatest works that ever happened on earth took place, a day on which a confession in Latin and German, written with divine Scripture at the bottom and with such glimpses, was read out, the like of which had not been seen in a thousand years, indeed while the world stood.” … In the Augsburg Confession the whole Christian doctrine and also the right form of a Christian life, as it comes from the Gospel, is set forth and taught and known before all the world. Luther rejoices on the occasion of the day of Augsburg: "I am only glad to live in a time when Christ has been publicly proclaimed by so many dear confessors in such a respectable assembly and through this glorious confession, and the saying has come true: 'I speak of thy testimonies before "kings.”’” [Psalm 119:46] … this symbol corresponds exactly to the Holy Scriptures in all the doctrines presented, and, on the other hand, the Christians of our time are still threatened by the same false doctrines of the Papal Church and the various sects. …

As for the historical introduction to the booklet, it was not intended to present a complete history of the great period from Worms to Augsburg. It was also refrained from going into side issues in which the reports from that time do not completely agree. The purpose of the introduction was to group such events "that let us look into the heart of the great confessors, into their struggle and victory". …

As for the second part of this small writing, the doctrinal part, first the text of the Augsburg Confession is printed in full. In the short notes added to the individual articles, the statement of the confession and the scriptural basis for it are pointed out; then it is recalled which heresies also of our time contradict the scriptural confession of Augsburg. Here the temptation was obvious to add more details and names from more recent times in the reprint. We refrained from this in order not to give the booklet the form of a small "comparative symbolism". If you want to know more names of false teachers of recent and latest times, we refer you to Guenther's Popular Symbolics, which has been continued by Dr. L. Fuerbringer up to our time. …

We conclude this preface to the reprint with a few words from the “Foreword” of 1880: “We also confess the confession delivered on June 25, 1530 as our confession, because [page 7] we have recognized this confession as agreeing with the Word of God. …” God grant in grace that with sincere thanks to Him who has given this glorious Confession to our church, we may celebrate the four hundredth anniversary of the Augsburg Confession in a proper manner!

St. Louis, Mo, Feb. 11, 1930.

F. Pieper.

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The full English translation of “Pieper's Last Book” will be presented in the concluding Part 3…

1: Pieper's 1st book: Basic Confession of Lutheran Church – Augsburg Confession (Part 1 of 3)

      The year 1880 was when the young 28-year old Prof. Franz Pieper came into full view in the Missouri Synod.  This was the year of Pieper's first book as a professor, and it was also the year of his first Convention Essay – both of which gave him a high standing as a teacher in the Missouri Synod, alongside C. F. W. Walther.  

Pieper's first book was announced and reviewed by Prof. Martin Guenther, in vol. 36 of Der Lutheraner, p. 88.  Guenther references an earlier book by Walther, Formula of Concord, Core and Star ($7.95 from Christian News Mo., German original book), thereby placing Pieper's work in a similar high level of importance for all Lutherans. [2023-7-19: see later blog for English translation of Walther's book]

Before I comment further, let us hear Guenther's high praise in his book announcement:

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The Basic Confession of the Evangelical Lutheran Church. With a historical introduction and short explanatory notes. Presented to the Lutheran Christian people on the 350th anniversary of the Augsburg Confession by F. Pieper. Price, postage paid, 40 Cts.

Who does not remember with joy the marvelous pleasure which the booklet Formula of Concord, Core and Star [Walther's Der Concordienformel Kern und Stern] gave him in the jubilee year 3 years ago! [1877] Also for the upcoming jubilee celebration, the Lutheran Christian people will be offered a similar booklet, containing the basic confession, the Augsburg Confession, with a historical introduction and short explanatory notes. It is true that this confession is found in our hymnal, but who would not also like to have an explanation of it, who would not also like to know its history in more detail? After all, it only serves to increase the joy of rejoicing, if one knows the object of the joy properly. And here the reader sees in the first part how the faithful God has given and preserved this gem for the Lutheran Church, and in the second part how glorious it is in its content. No one will read it without thanking the dear author for the marvellous notations.

The first part contains the historical introduction:

Ch. 1. Short overview of the events from the beginning of the Reformation to the Diet of Augsburg.

Ch. 2.. Preparation for the Diet and arrival in Augsburg.

Ch. 3. Confession before the opening of the Diet.

Ch. 4. Adoption of the confession.

Ch. 5. Beginning of the Diet and the Emperor's refusal to allow the Lutheran Confession to be read.

Ch. 6. Delivery of the Confession.

Ch. 7. Impression of the Augsburg Confession.

Ch. 8. The Papist so-called Confutation.

Ch. 9. The Augsburg Confession in danger and saved from danger.

Ch. 10. Final negotiations and conclusion of the Diet.

Ch. 11. Luther and the Augsburg Confession.

Ch. 12. Review and Concluding Remembrance.

The second part contains the Augsburg Confession itself with explanatory notes.

As once [Walther's] Formula of Concord, Core and Star, this book also has lasting value. After the end of the jubilee celebration, it should not be put aside. In our congregations, it is required of the members who are to be accepted that they know and profess the unaltered Augsburg Confession in addition to Luther's Small Catechism, even if they still lack knowledge of all Lutheran symbols. No more suitable book can be given to the newcomers than this edition of the Augsburg Confession with historical introduction and explanatory notes.

May this book find as wide a circulation and be such a blessing as [Walther's] Formula of Concord, Core and Star was 3 years ago.

The price is 40 Cts. postage free. Addressed to: Luth. Concordia Verlag, St. Louis, Mo. G. [Martin Guenther]

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      One is immediately made aware of the high importance of Walther's earlier book, a book that has languished in the LC-MS, but was translated by Kenneth Howes and published by Herman Otten's Lutheran News in 2012. (See above; unfortunately today's LC-MS would rather have its people read from Robert Kolb on the history of the Formula of Concord.)  And the young Prof. Pieper is thrust into the spotlight as a highly gifted teacher for all of Lutheranism. —  In the next Part 2, the rest of the story on this book. The following is a semi-polished machine translation of "Pieper's First Book" on the 350th anniversary of the founding Confession of the Lutheran Church:

 

Walther on passing of Jewish theologian Philippi: “Blood… cleanseth us from all sin”

      In 1882, a well known Jewish German theologian went to be with his Savior.  But this German theologian was unlike most of his contemporaries in Germany.  In the Der Lutheraner vol 38 (1882), p. 173, C. F. W. Walther wrote a short essay on the occasion of the passing of this theologian who did not follow the modern trends.  But what was especially notable for him was that he was born a Jew, and only later came to the Lutheran Christian faith.  Because of his notoriety, even the Jews have made a place for him in the Jewish Encyclopedia, even though he became a Christian. Surely there were some arguments over his inclusion!

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“Not many wise men according to the flesh are called,” says St. Paul in 1 Cor. 1:26. But in saying "not many," he testifies at the same time that there will always be some "wise men according to the flesh" who will accept the Word of the cross, which is foolishness to the world, as the only true wisdom. To these "wise men according to the flesh" belonged also the highly learned doctor and professor of theology Friedrich Adolf Philippi in Rostock in Mecklenburg, who died blessedly on August 29. He was born of Jewish parents, but came to a lively realization at a young age that Jesus Christ of Nazareth was the true Messiah promised to his people, and was therefore baptized. What kind of man he was was expressed by Professor Bachmann, among others, at his coffin. We cannot but share some of this with our readers. After Professor Bachmann had announced the words: “The blood of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, makes us clean from all sin” (1 John I, 7.) as his text, he continued as follows: "From this word, in the image of our deceased, the deepest, firmest, yes, some reason of his life comes to us first and foremost clearly. What was it that drove the young man to the feet of Jesus Christ, the Crucified, with ever more conscious and clear knowledge of the faith of his fathers? He hungered and thirsted for righteousness, his soul ached for the atonement of his sins, a righteousness he struggled in vain to gain from the works of the law, a reconciliation of which he could never be comfortably certain in all the shadowy being of the Old Covenant. Only when the New Testament did him the service of John, pointing out to him the one of whom Moses and all the prophets prophesied, as if with fingers: "Behold, this is the Lamb of God who bears the sin of the world! Only when in holy baptism, through the sprinkling of the blood of the Son of God, he was assured of the atonement of his sins and of justification before his God, only then had his soul found its full satisfaction, only then had he experienced in a certain blessed way what he later wrote as his confession under a picture of himself: "Christ is the end of the law; he who believes in him is righteous." — And this Christ, in whom he found his righteousness and the peace of his soul, was to him none other than the One to whom He testified Himself, as the One whom the whole Word of God proclaims on every page: the eternal, only begotten Son of God, incarnate in the fullness of time for our salvation. Oh, he knew it only too well and had learned it in the vain struggle of his soul, that for each, even the smallest of his sins, no other sacrifice was great enough, no other atonement fully valid, than the blood of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. And this blood of atonement, the precious merit of the God-Man, whom God also presented to him as a mercy seat through faith in his blood, was henceforth the foundation of his life, the comfort and part of his heart. Founded on this foundation in faith, from this fertile soil with all the roots of his inner man, sucking up the forces of life, he traveled out more and more completely to the firmly formed personality full of character, to the man of one mold, as which he was able to command respect and high esteem even from those who were far away, even from men of the most opposite point of view. In the complete devotion to this one truth, which completely filled his soul, as it gave all his rich human gifts the consecration of higher meaning, lay also the peculiarly attractive power of his person, which so effectively and lastingly bound the youth to him, and in not a few of his students so conditionally influenced their entire inner direction and development. — Being reconciled with God through God's blood, knowing that he was represented by Jesus, the righteous One, interceding with the Father, helped our perfected man to bear the burdens of life. This comforted him and kept him upright under the tribulations of his pilgrimage. For even in such tribulations he was not lacking, according to his God's counsel, from the first, perhaps deepest pain of his life: as a son to be torn from his parents' hearts, to see himself (as he himself used to express it) cut out, as it were, from the circle of his nearest and dearest according to the flesh, to the last sufferings of his old days. But even in such dark hours of affliction, where not only to the natural flesh and blood no light of consolation shines any more, where even to the challenged faith it often seems as if God had closed all his grace in anger, this always remained the support and consolation of his soul: "There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus" [Rom. 8:1]; he always clung to the certainty as to his one stick and staff: "In this his love toward God is praised. In this God glorifies his love toward us, that while we were yet enemies, Christ died for us; so shall we ever be preserved through him from wrath, having been justified by his blood"; and thus through all the anguish and temptation of his soul he wrestled his way again and again to the quiet rest of the child at the heart of his reconciled Father, to the ever new, comforting experience: “Now that we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” — And this power of the blood of reconciliation, which strengthened him and sustained him throughout his life, also proved itself to our perfected man on his deathbed, even to the last breath. In the midst of all the turmoil and torture of his slowly dying body, he always found a safe haven of peace in the open wounds of the Lamb of God, who had also been martyred for him. For all accusations of sin and weakness of soul he drank comfort and strength in the blood of his Savior, also shed for him, also offered to him in Holy Communion. Through all his thoughts and speeches, consciously as well as unconsciously, the longing for the heavenly home, which the eternal High Priest also opened for him through His entrance with His blood, always sounded through. And with the repeated prayer: Lord Jesus, have mercy! Son of God, have mercy! he closed his mouth for this world; and at the same time he received the seal from the Lord for what he believed and confessed in his whole life: “The blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.” [1 John 1:7] — God grant the writer of this and all his readers such an end also! W. [Walther]

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      While Germany's famous 19th century theologians were falling away, rationalizing, falling to Synergism, and denying the Inspiration of Scripture, this "Jewish" theologian held firm, and even returned to the old Lutheran doctrine of the Inspiration of Holy Scripture, and died in his Savior's arms.

Walther on Life Insurance: A curse, not a blessing (Der Lutheraner, 1881)

      I have previously blogged on this subject from the teaching in Franz Pieper's Christliche Dogmatik, where Friedrich Bente's essay was quoted.  Now someone in the LC-MS, in order to justify the rampant acceptance of Life Insurance in that church body, might wonder that C. F. W. Walther did not touch on this controversial subject – but they would be quite mistaken.  In the Sept. 1881 issue of Der Lutheraner, p. 141, Walther hardly soft-pedals this matter:

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Life insurance. Now even secular newspapers, edited by godless writers, are beginning to raise their voices against the swindles to which especially the Life Insurance companies give rise. One of such swindles is that speculators insure the lives of arbitrary, mostly already old and infirm people, who have nothing further to do with the matter and at most receive a few dollars in tips for insuring their lives. Of course, the insurer's hope for great profit is based on the hope that the person he has insured will die soon. The consequence of this is not seldom murder of the insured. During the last ten years, probably half a dozen cases have come to light in which people whose lives were insured by others out of speculation have been killed by the insurers or on their behalf. God knows in how many other cases this has happened, in which the crime has remained hidden. Even a godless paper therefore rightly calls life insurance - "death lottery". It is sad that even people who want to be good Christians insure their lives. Hitherto it has been thought that the best life insurance companies are the so-called "mutual" ones, which do not require an annual deposit, but only a certain tax as often as a member of the company dies; but the "Illinois State Paper" points out that this is the "newest and most abominable form of gambling, on a par with gambling houses". Oh shame, that even “Christians”, denying the living God, participate in fraudulent institutions, in order to see their own provided for after their death! Such bequeath instead of a blessing — a curse, which also consumes the blessing. W. [Walther]

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      Now today's Life Insurance companies will vehemently deny Walther's points.  But why do so many murder mystery stories involve Life Insurance fraud today?  The story writers/ screenwriters want to create stories that are believable, and what is more believable than Life Insurance fraud?  And why would Life Insurance companies investigate for fraud… if there wasn't fraud (i.e. murder, etc.) being committed? — Walther's vehemence against Life Insurance for Christians makes Pieper's Dogmatik seem mild by comparison, but Pieper makes exactly the same point, except the English translation of this portion was omitted!