Foreword | Christian Hochstetter | Last Christian Ministries

It has been correctly said: Facta loguuntur [“Facts speak for themselves”]. Also the history of the Missouri Synod needs no long preface. It will, however, be the appropriate place where the author of this writing will have to give an account to his readers of himself and of the cause of writing this book.

The writer of these lines was first inspired to enter into the service of the inner mission in 1850 during a “Kirchentag” meeting held in Stuttgart. Even then he recognized that North America, as the land of immigration, is actually the place for inner mission. But after he had just finished his studies in Tübingen, he entered the vicarial service for a few more years and only in spring 1853 he took a vacation from the Royal Württemberg Consistory, which was only issued for six years. Even before he left for America, he received a call through the mediation of Dr. Barth to a then newly formed congregation in Fort Wayne, Indiana. This congregation had been founded shortly before by a licensed preacher from the Ohio Synod in opposition to the long-standing congregation of Dr. Sihler, which belonged to the Missouri Synod, and the writer of these lines, by accepting this call, came into close association with the Ohio Synod, even before he knew it in detail. Since he did not find in the Ohio Synod what he was looking for, but rather was of the opinion that a strong external church government was needed from the outside in order to be able

to control the spiritual devastation and the often prevailing disdain for the preaching ministry, he felt drawn to the Buffalo Synod, whose senior was Pastor J. A. A. Grabau († 1879). In 1857, I was appointed as a deacon next to Pastor Grabau at the Trinity Church in Buffalo, where I served for ten years under very turbulent circumstances. In February 1866, I felt compelled to file a complaint with the Buffalo Synod ministry, and the negotiations that ensued led to a great schism, while Pastor Grabau, along with three other preachers, renounced the Buffalo Synod in the extra session of the Synod held in May of that same year, to which he had appealed. In September of the same year, the writer of these lines, together with the now also deceased Pastor von Rohr, had the first meeting with Prof. Dr. Walther, which took place in Dr. Sihler's home in Fort Wayne. It was there that the Buffalo Colloquium was arranged, which was held in November 1866 between the representatives of the Missouri Synod and those of the Buffalo Synod, as recorded in Chapters VIII and IX of this book. Since the representatives of the Buffalo Synod recognized at this public colloquium that the hitherto contested doctrine of the Missouri Synod, namely the doctrine of church and ministry, is the scriptural and symbolic confession of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, (with only one Buffalo delegate reserving differences), they subsequently joined the Missouri Synod with the largest part of the Buffalo Synod congregations, thus bringing to an end the longstanding dispute between these two synods. In the following year, 1867, the Missouri Synod elected the writer of these lines to represent the Eastern District of the Synod at the colloquium held between the representatives of the Iowa Synod and those of the Missouri Synod in Milwaukee, Wisc., as reported in

Chapter X of this paper. — The author believed that he had to make this preliminary reminder because it is shows that the writer of this is not only in many places an eye- and ear-witness of what he reports in this book, but is also to some extent involved in the doctrinal disputes and struggles that were decided upon by the Missouri Synod. It has not been easy for us, the former members of the Buffalo Synod, to prove right those in whom we once thought were church destroyers; the readers will recognize from what is reported at the end of Chapter VIII that it was only under various tribulations, which had to serve us in the best possible way, and after the temptation which teaches us to remember the Word, that we were set on the path by God's gracious guidance, which we have now walked for 18 years in unity of spirit with the members of the Missouri Synod.

In accordance with the spiritual nature of the kingdom of God, it cannot be otherwise than that only there, in blessing, is building on the walls of our Lutheran Zion, where one builds on the right, old foundation, and where the Holy Spirit himself, who brings the dead to life through his powerful Word, is the master builder, through whom one stone is joined to another. Where the pure preaching of the Gospel as the power of God goes out to the salvation of souls, there the churches will also come to a healthy knowledge and to a proper form from within! This was confirmed by the Evangelical Lutheran Missouri Synod. The founders and leaders of the Synod did not support ecclesiastical political plans, nor did they believe that they had to take into account the circumstances in which they were placed in such a way that they would have pursued a carnal addiction to expansion; when they fought, they fought for the sanctuary of revealed truth, and when they built, they wanted to build the souls through the Word as living stones in the house of God, which is a spiritual temple in the Lord.

In the Foreword to the Book of the Church and Ministry [p.viii], Dr. Walther exclaims, "We must resolutely reject the accusation that we have bent and modelled the holy pure teaching of our Church in favor of our circumstances — — — We have not modelled the teaching of our Church according to our circumstances, but have ordered it according to the doctrine of our Church. Anyone who doubts this, we confidently call out to him: Come and see!"

The former members of the Buffalo Synod are not the only Lutherans who joined the Missouri Synod for protection and support; entire synods met with it and formed the Lutheran Synodical Conference on the basis of the unadulterated Word of God and under the banner of the Lutheran Confessions rooted in the Word of God; the Lutheran Church in this Occident [Western world] experienced an unprecedented revival through God's gracious visitation, the number of congregations associated with the Missouri Synod increased in an unprecedented way! Why should it be surprising when Satan rumbles about it, when the little ship of our synodical fellowship is threatened and afflicted by heavy storms, especially in recent times? While Satan is leading his own people by the scruff of the neck — and there is no doubt about this — Satan's cunning is also concealed under the fact that in the doctrinal dispute that has now arisen in the midst of our Synodical Conference we are dealing here with the doctrine of predestination, that is to say the eternal election of the children of God. First of all, this was a doctrine that was less well known and less mentioned in comparison with other doctrines that are even closer to the center of salvation, because it does not belong to the ABC’s of the revealed truth of salvation, with which one must begin in teaching and learning. This is why Luther says in the preface to Chapter 9 of the Epistle to the Romans: "Every doctrine has its measure, time and age. It is the spirits who, before they have grasped and prayed the simple way of salvation, begin at the top

and want to explore the abyss of divine predestination, and worry about whether they are foreknown, i.e. whether they are the chosen ones. Follow this epistle (to the Romans) in its order. First grieve with Christ and the Gospel, that you may recognize your sin and His grace, and then contend with sin as taught here in chapters 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8. After that, when you have come to chapter 8, under the cross and suffering, the predestination in chapters 9, 10 and 11 will teach you how comforting it is. Because without the cross, suffering and death, predestination cannot be dealt with without harm and secret anger against God. Therefore Adam must first die before he can suffer this thing and drink the strong wine. Therefore be careful not to drink wine while you are still a baby." *)

Although in Germany, as far as it is "Protestant", the 400th anniversary of Martin Luther's birth was celebrated with great display, Luther's teachings are so little known and respected in many parts that one often thinks that what was brought to light from the depths of the divine Word as a precious prize of the Reformation through Luther's ministry is fanaticism [Schwärmerei]. One can be saved by human considerations, even by the very same objections and prejudices which the Romanists past and present raised against Luther and his associates. Thus it happened with regard to the doctrine of the Church and the Ministry, the so-called objective concept of the Church, by which one wanted to suppress the Evangelical doctrine of the Church, which was described as atomistic, subjectivistic, etc., is entirely the doctrine of the Church that Bellarmin put forward. In the same way, they are now fighting with the same reasons against our doctrine of the election of grace, which Erasmus once put forward against Luther.

—————————

*) The Synodical Report of the Ohio Synod of 1881 mocks the fact that the pure doctrine of grace has been compared to strong wine! Does one not know in that synod that the man of God Luther is being mocked with this?

On the other hand, it was also easy to attack the purely Lutheran doctrine of the Election of Grace [or Predestination], based on the Holy Scriptures, because many now are agreed according to Calvin's false doctrine, based on rational deductions, that it is exclusively a matter for the Reformed to have a doctrine of predestination, this doctrine was none of our business for us Lutherans! The vast majority of those who come to America from Germany think that we must fearfully guard against this doctrine, and it would be best not to talk about it at all. It must lead either to despair or to carnal security. In addition, thirdly, although Sacred Scripture often and extensively teaches of the election of grace for the children of God, many later teachers of the Lutheran Church left Holy Scripture far too much to one side in this place, and partly with the intention of fighting Calvin in their own self-chosen way, and partly as a result of a tendency to make the incomprehensible comprehensible precisely here, deviated from the doctrine of the Formula of Concord that was based on Scripture. — The warning of the Formula of Concord that we should not investigate what God hides from this mystery of the election of grace, nor that we should conclude or ponder it according to our own thoughts, was disregarded. Our confession says: we cannot harmonize it! However, the later dogmatists already began to replace the general order of grace, as it was established by God for all people from eternity, with the special election of "special persons" who, according to the eternal purpose of God, are prescribed to attain eternal life by way of the order of grace. There is no doubt that in many passages of the Holy Scripture the Lord Christ, when he speaks of the chosen ones in John 10:28; 15:16 and Matt. 24:24, and the apostles, especially St. Paul in Romans chapters 8 and 9, reveal this election of grace to comfort and strengthen Christians in this last, evil time. Nevertheless, those who are now lecturing in the footsteps of Luther and in accordance with the

Formula of Concord are accused of being crypto-Calvinists, i.e. people who claim to be Lutheran but teach as Calvinists. — Since up to now in Germany the teachers of the Missouri Synod have been accused of being too servile to the Lutheran dogmatists and only repristinated them, this latest doctrinal dispute could have been seen as an example that we do not worship idolatry in matters of faith and doctrine and do not let our conscience be bound to human writings. *) It is precisely during a doctrinal controversy that one becomes quite aware that nothing clings so firmly in one's conscience as the Word of God revealed in Holy Scripture, which is therefore also the only judge in the controversy and the perfect source of our Christian faith.

Meanwhile, in the course of this dispute, the fact came to light that the Missouri Synod had not a few kickers [Nachtreter] who were already secretly grieving that it had more enemies than many had previously thought. They believed that the hour had come when these Missourians, whose testimony had often rebuked them, could finally be branded as heretics to their heart's content! Already the Iowa Synod leaders reported in Germany: "So much is certain, Missouri wavers at its basic foundation", it was said: there, there! we wanted that! Ps. 35:25 [“Ah, so would we have it.”]. That is why in this doctrinal controversy, too, the battle was waged against the people, especially against the dear Dr. Walther, on whom the most poisonous arrows of the slanderous opponents were aimed. Of course, these arrows did not hit him; it was also only a small fraction of our ministry that allowed itself to be turned away from our synod, and the number of congregations that let themselves be swept away by this artificial current was even smaller. What Christain

—————————

*) There are still quite a few matters to be found, such as the doctrine of Sunday and the power of the secular government in church matters, in which we cannot follow the dogmatists, but teach on the basis of the Scripture according to our Lutheran symbols.

hearts, however, should not be filled with sadness and melancholy over the fact that Dr. Walther had to issue a public warning to these slanderers, yes, that two of these slanderers were only willing to make a satisfactory apology from fear of the punishing arm of the government, in which they confessed that they had been confused with respect to the person, they now realize that Dr. Walther is a man of excellent piety, of sublime integrity of character, and rightly the recognized leader of the respectable body which he has headed since its existence, etc. *)

Just as it happened to Athanasius in the fight against Arianism, as the apostles had to experience it according to Christ's prophecy, so also now the faithful servants of God are still walking "by honour and dishonour, by evil report and good report”, 2 Cor. 6:8. Also in Germany the Missouri Synod is at present badly disparaged. — It was recently noted by Dr. Walther in the Der Lutheraner: "The insults of our enemies are much more salutary to us than the praises we reap", and the founders of the Missouri Synod have always been far from wanting to set up a monument to their own glory through the Synod, yet the writer of these lines feels that now is the time to give an overview of the history of the Missouri Synod through this booklet, in which, as everyone knows, Dr. Walther's name must be mentioned on almost every page. Although he did not seek his own glory, St. Paul had to justify, for the glory and doctrine of God which he proclaimed, the administration of his office to the false teachers, and the writer of this would have liked a more skilful pen

—————————

*) While even the church papers published outside our Synod expressed their indignation at these slanders, the Ohio Synod papers declared that Dr. Walther had caused this bitterness through his own fault!

to put the Missouri Synod in perspective for its accusers. However, since the attempt which I made in the Lutheran Volksblatt in 1882 to describe the beginnings of the Missouri Synod was well received, I was repeatedly asked by the esteemed publisher, Heinrich J. Naumann of Dresden, to write a history of the Missouri Synod following the essay published in 18 issues of the Lutheran Volksblatt of Canada. This is now available in the present book. — In order to close this preface with a more pleasant note, a testimony is printed here, which the Missouri Synod received outside its area of responsibility from a publication published within the General Council, namely from the Pilgrim through World and Church in Vol. 5, p. 370, in the following words: "This is not the place to go into the history of the Missouri Synod, the largest and most important Lutheran Synod in our country, but I do not wish to conceal or at least suggest that I have no more obvious example of how God blesses human faithfulness than the Missouri Synod itself. If she had not held so steadfastly to her profession of pure doctrine, if she had not borne witness so sharply and fought against all and every deviation from the path which she alone and correctly discerned, if she had shown herself to be more yielding in practice than in doctrine, if she had been just a little more comfortable with the views of our more easily fickle times, she would not have achieved what she can now call her own. She took her reason captive under the obedience of Christ and the Lord has rewarded her. The glory of God, the pure truth of the Word, which found its clearest expression in the confession of the Lutheran Church, stood and stands higher to her than the favor of the world and the windy inventions of men. If the Lord God had not had mercy on the Lutheran Church in America by placing the Missouri Synod in its midst, we would be a small group that might still bear the name

Lutheran, but would otherwise be an open pasture for foxes and other wild animals. When I think of what has been done by the grace of God by the Missourians, I cannot join in the clamor against them. It is my belief that the Missourians attribute their success to God's grace, not to their diligence, however proud they may be of it. The Lord bless the brave Saxons and make their salt work ever more vigorously in the leaven of American church life."

In the hope that many more will join in this blessing, this booklet is handed over to the reader for careful consideration

Wolcottsville, Niagara County, New York,

in October 1884.

The Author.

Table of contents.

Page

Foreword. I

I. The emigration from Saxony in October 1838 and the settlement of the Lutherans in Perry County, Missouri. 1

II. Stephan's unmasking in May 1839. The ensuing Perry County doctrinal battle. The Altenburg Colloquium in April 1841. Pastor Ferd. Walther's letters to the congregation. 18

III. The activities of the congregation for higher and lower schools. Pastor H. Loeber’s and Hermann Walther's last work and end. Pastor Ferdinand Walther's beginning work in St. Louis from May 1841 on. 51

IV. Fried. Conr. Dietrich Wyneken, the father of the German-American mission. The arrival of the first Lutheran emissaries from Germany, 1838-1847 91

V. The state of affairs in the old synods called Lutheran. The so-called Lutheran General Synod, the Ohio and Michigan Synods. The withdrawal of the Franconian Lutherans from the Michigan Synod. The successful fight against the Methodists. 119

VI. The constitution of the German Evangelical Lutheran Synod of Missouri, Ohio and others St. 1st, 2nd and 3rd Synod conventions 1847-1849. A look at the synod's teaching institutions, the boarding institutions, the Negro, Jewish and emigrant missions. 146

VII. Pastor J. A. A. Grabau’s Pastoral Letter and its answer by pastors Loeber, Keyl, Gruber and Walther. The presentation and acceptance of the book Church and Ministry. The 4th and 5th Synod conventions, 1850-1851. 179

VIII. The delegation to Germany and the address of the two delegates Walther and Wyneken to the members of the faith there. The open letters of the Leipzig and Fürth Conferences and the Breslau High Consistory. The Decline of the Buffalo Synod and the Strong Growth of the Missouri Synod, 1852 to May 1866. 217

IX. The Buffalo Colloquium, that is, the discussions and final declarations of the Buffalo and the Missouri Synod colloquents, Nov. 1866 to March 1867. 256

X. Pastor Loehe's Retreat in Confession and the Emergence of the Opposing Iowa Synod. The Colloquium of the Representatives of the Iowa Synod and the Representatives of the Missouri Synod in Milwaukee, November 1867. Pastor A. Schieferdecker's former resignation and eventual return to the Missouri Synod 278

XI. The 14th General Convention of the Missouri Synod in Fort Wayne in 1869. The deliberation there on the doctrine of usury, 1869. The Jubilee Synod in St. Louis in 1872. The meeting of the Evangelical Lutheran Synodical Conference in the same year. The separation of the Ohio Synod, and its most recent doctrinal position. 314

XII. The outbreak and course of the Election of Grace controversy. The first General Pastoral Conference in Chicago. The 13 Theses, as the sum of the doctrine of the Election of Grace. The Second General Pastoral Conference in Fort Wayne, Indiana. The real point at issue in the controversy. 1879—1881 353

XIII. The right and the origin of the Saxon Evangelical Lutheran Free Church. — The withdrawal of the faithful Lutheran East India missionaries from the service of the Leipzig Mission and its consequences. — The position of the Missouri Synod as such on the grace election dispute. — The laying of the foundation stone and consecration of the new seminary in St. Louis. The 19th Synodical convention (1884). — Review and conclusion.– 410

XV.

Misprints — Corrections.

With the far distance of the author from the place of printing, may the inclined reader excuse the following misprints: [BTL: all of these corrections have been applied]

Page 18, line 4 from the top instead of confused read stray.

“ 25, line 24 from above instead of hers read hers.

" 29, last line instead of the following reads the following.

" 43, line 2 from below instead of 1863 is to be read 1866.

“ 64, line 13 from above instead of 11,500 dollars is to be read 115,000

Dollars.

85", the quotation marks must be placed at the bottom of the note after the word "would".

" 91, line 2 from above the same behind the words: to become certainty.

140,

141, 128, 149, 176, 181, 282,

13 Not Au-Arbor, but Ann-Arbor.

8 Do not start from the top, but rather start from the bottom.

16 not Peritzdorf, but Paitzdorf.

16 from above not Dr. Selle, but Dr. Sihler.

2 from above not support, but continuance.

12 and 14 not Saginov, but Saginaw.

Furthermore, the author asks to note the following:

On page 208, line 14, it should be added that in Walther's book on church and ministry the theses put forward are secondly based on testimonies of the church in its public confessions — and then thirdly on testimonies in the private writings of its teachers.

Furthermore, the following should be considered as an addendum to Chapter VI: Also in Baltimore, Md., where also many German immigrants land, there is an emigrant mission, which has come into being through the care of the local pastors and congregations of the Missouri Synod.

The agent of this mission is Mr. Wilhelm Sallmann, who with great self-denial dedicates himself to the counselling and safe onward transportation of the immigrants there.

His address is: 117 East Pratt Street in Baltimore, Md.

XVI.