How the Missouri Synod is Judged in Germany Today.
[A review of an 1881 pamphlet by Pastor Rudolph Hoffmann of Germany]
By Pastor Ch. Hochstetter, Stonebridge, Canada.
“The ashes will not cease, they are scattering in all lands!” With these words Luther once sang the praises of the death of the first Lutheran martyrs [Voes and Esch] who had been burned at the stake in the Netherlands for their faith. Now the Lutherans of today are not worthy to be blood witnesses, the faithful Lutheran Free Church of North America must once again fulfill its duty, so that the confession of word and deed that emanates from it will shine into the United state churches of Germany [Prussian Union]. As a testimony to those who see in the “Missourians” <page 7> a people who are devoid of all piety because they dare to teach contrary to the dignitaries and luminaries of today's state church, it must be said what [Christoph Ernst] Luthardt’s Kirchenzeitung, No. 39 of the previous year [1879, p. 926, 3rd paragraph] reported in the following:
“As everywhere in Lutheran assemblies, some Missourian followers were present, without anyone knowing it, who felt that the time had come to prepare the ground for the direction they were taking.” [German text of full paragraph; December 1879 Lehre und Wehre report] —
Indeed, at the August Conference in Berlin, as we read in the beginning of the document before us, some members were astonished to hear a recommendation of the Missouri Synod from the mouths of some members; even more were indignant and rejected the idea of modeling the domestic situation on Missouri models. The excitement about it spread beyond the conference, the Missourians became the talk of the day for some time, and so on. Finally, a young pastor, Rudolph Hoffmann [April 19, 1849 — December 21, 1880], who had studied the church situation in North America before others, was asked to prepare a lecture on the Lutheran Missouri Synod. This lecture, titled The Missouri Synod in North America [WorldCat; see RH2], was submitted for printing in Gütersloh in 1881 by the friends of R. Hoffmann, because the author himself was called from this world before he could hand over his work to the district synod.
Far be it from us to judge the legacy of a deceased person unjustly! Although we must deplore the unionistic standpoint of the author, and every reader of the writing can see that the task set to the author was to answer the question, and for a United [Prussian Union] district synod, of course, to answer No [p. 5]:
“Are there possible dangers which we face here (in the recommendation of the Missouri Synod), should that friend who stood up for these Americans be right? [p. 6] Must we have to sit at the feet of Missouri to learn?”
Nevertheless, to this day no report from German state-church circles has appeared in print which acknowledges so much about the Missouri Synod as this lecture by the late Pastor R. Hoffmann. His writing is divided into a “historical description” of the synod, and a “critical illumination”. As many reproaches as the latter contains, so that the above-mentioned danger may not appear great, it nevertheless says at the end [p. 34]:
“One must not overlook the fact that among those friends the love for the Missouri Synod originated from the love for the Lutheran Church and her confession, the purest expression of which they believe to recognize in the Missouri Synod (no Missourian will claim any other love for our Synod).” *)
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*) What is enclosed in parentheses in the above is from the pen of the reviewer, who is one of the followers of the Missourians, since he did not join the Missouri Synod until 1866–1867.
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To this <Page 8> R. Hoffmann added that one must not only appreciate the outward blessing that God has given to this Lutheran Church fellowship, but also the reverence with which it has up to this hour preserved the sanctuaries of Old Lutheran doctrine!
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