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Sunday, June 6, 2021

Fick: Luther Book reprinted; Luther, not Th. Paine, "makes us young again, like eagles"

C. J. Herman Fick (ca. 1858; image: historictrinity.org/our-history/church-history/historic-trinity-history
[2021-06-16: added note in red below]
     Previously I have presented perhaps the best popular book ever written on Martin Luther, Pastor Herman Fick's Das Lutherbuch or The Luther Book. I recently ran across Fick's announcement of the second edition in the 1856 Der Lutheraner.  I believe that this book is one of the most popular books ever published by the Old German Missouri Synod, besides the books of Walther.  Walther highly praised it, but we see in this announcement just how popular the book was in the early years of its availability. And this popularity is confirmed by the fact that the 23rd edition was published in 1892. Yet another (final?) edition came out in 1906, over 50 years after its original printing in 1855 or earlier, according to WorldCat. — One may note Fick's reference to Thomas Paine and his manner of life. More will be said about this in the concluding remarks. — From Der Lutheraner, vol. 12 (1855-1856), p. 104:
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Invitation to subscribe 

to the second edition of the

 The Luther Book.

 

Certainly, the dear readers of Der Lutheraner will not be unhappy to hear that the first edition of the Luther Book, which was 2,500 copies strong, is already completely sold out. Praise and thanks be to the Lord that He has given His blessing to it out of undeserved grace, without which all effort is in vain.

The rapid sales of this book prove that the Church has a desire to preserve and renew the memory of the blessed man of God. Partly in order to meet this need, partly to gain a mite for the good of the St. Louis College, a second edition of the Luther Book is being undertaken, which, God willing, will appear very soon, since printing has already begun. And indeed, except for the improvement of the printing errors, the whole will be reprinted in unchanged form. This seemed the most appropriate for several reasons. As much as we realize how desirable it is to improve this booklet, we have refrained from making any changes, because this would make its use as a textbook very difficult. Furthermore, we had doubts whether we would be happier with the infinite richness of the material in the selection. And finally, we considered that with greater detail, there would also have to be an increase in price, which could perhaps be an obstacle to further distribution. Our wish, however, is to make Luther's life story known in the widest circles and to provide the German [now English-speaking] man with such a description of him that everyone can easily acquire it because of its cheapness and easily read through it because of its brevity.

We have already indicated how useful it is for everyone to get to know Luther's life and deeds in more detail. Especially for us in this last sad, gloomy time, in this dull, faithless and loveless age of the world, it is very beneficial. For in Luther we meet a witness of God who joyfully confesses the Word of God, cheerfully despises the wrath of the devil, the Antichrist and the world, suffers and sacrifices everything for the sake of Jesus, and with God's help finally wins the victory. It is a joy to see such a glorious heroic figure in the holy fight for the glory of God. And how did it come about? Through the seed of the divine Word, for it is this alone that produces heroes, confessors, fighters and victors. One feels involuntarily awakened by Luther's life story to draw all the more eagerly from the fountain of salvation of the divine Word, which also fills us with powers of eternal life, makes us young again, like eagles, gives us peace, wisdom and strength, so that we also grow in Him who is the head, according to the measure of the grace bestowed upon us.

Our grateful ancestors called Luther the apostle and prophet of the Germans. — And rightly so. —- For what was advertised to the Germans as Christianity before Luther was a doctrine falsified by the Pope, the ultimate purpose of which was that they had to obey the Pope and pay him, just as the Pope declared the main sum of the commandments to be: Give me money. Luther, on the other hand, purified Christian doctrine from all papist errors, preached the Word of God purely and clearly, and was the instrument through which the glorious consolation of grace, which lies in the Gospel that God brings us salvation by grace for Christ's sake, went out to countless people.

He gave the Bible into the hands of the German people and translated it so faithfully and so successfully that it was rightly said that “the Holy Spirit was particularly pleased to speak in German”. And as the Holy Spirit sanctifies nature by grace in his own, so also in Luther's. What must make him so attractive to every German is, with all his deep knowledge and rich erudition, this original deep German mind, this faithful honest heart, which, transfigured by the spirit of grace, means everything sincerely with God and man, and despite the most violent zeal of anger against the papacy and everything “dishonest,” nevertheless seeks only the honor of God and the salvation of his neighbor. So that he was what his name says, Luther, pure, a purifier [Lauterer], who sought the best of the church full of honesty and well deserves the honorary name: Germany's best son. 

Thomas Paine (Wikipedia)

Let us compare all the others who are nowadays imposed on us as liberators and world enlighteners. We are silent here about the wandering Jews and swindlers, whose folly and wickedness have just become obvious to everyone; we are silent about the brain-damaged philosophers, who worship their nonsense as God, trumpet the denial of God for the highest wisdom, and praise sin as the highest virtue. We recall here only Tom Paine, whose writings are still tirelessly recommended to us by certain papers as the source of the highest enlightenment. The latter compares with Luther more or less like Tetzel. With the latter, Paine has his lewd way of life in common. It is known that Paine was addicted to drink, was finally excluded from all better society because of his drunkenness, and became enthusiastic about his literary works through drinking.

Luther, on the other hand, even his enemies must give him credit for a blameless way of life. By God's grace, he has the merit that he zealously fought against the shameful yoke of papist superstition as well as unbelief and freed many from it by bringing them to faith in Jesus and thus to true freedom. May his life, his example and testimony be blessed to bring souls to true freedom, which consists in childlike listening to God's word.

The conditions remain the same. The price of a book is 25 cents. Whoever collects eight subscribers will receive a free copy. Orders may be placed with Mr. Ed. Roschke, care of Rev. Prof. Walther, St. Louis, Mo.

H. Fick. [C. J. Herman Fick]

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Thomas Paine
      Since I was not aware that Thomas Paine, the American Revolution activist, was "addicted to drink", I researched this on the Internet.  Wikipedia made no mention of this, and the general consensus of most historians was that all the reports of this were false and only made by a "malicious revengeful spirit", even though it was believed by many.  While I could take these later historians assertions as the truth against Fick's report, yet I have not found that the Missouri Synod Lutherans repeated slanderous histories.  I wonder that these Germans were well aware of all the histories and yet had fuller reports that indeed confirmed Paine's manner of life. I will leave it as uncertain, to a degree, one way or the other.  — But hardly anyone disputes that Thomas Paine was an enemy of the Christian religion. Indeed he was a scoffer of it, which makes him a hero for most "historians" of today, who will make it their business to protect his reputation. [2021-06-16: see Sihler's comment on "Tom Paine" in DL vol. 8, p. 186 col. 1: "…in vain is your effort to revive your idol Tom Paine".]
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Title page: "Life and Deeds of Dr. Martin Luther"; translator Prof. Matthias Loy, Ohio Synod
      What Christianity needs today is to go Back To Luther.  And Fick's book is the perfect popular book to give the best picture of Martin Luther.  The importance of this book was recognized by the Ohio Synod's Prof. Matthias Loy who translated it into English with the title Life and Deeds of Dr. Martin Luther. — Fick's report of the 1850s as "this last sad, gloomy time, in this dull, faithless and loveless age of the world" certainly fits today's America. While the 500th anniversary of Luther's Reformation has come and gone since 2017, yet Fick's popular book on the man of God, Martin Luther, is the perfect way to go… Back To Luther.  

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