Luther Examined and Reexamined: A Review of Catholic Criticism and a Plea for RevaluationDau, W. H. T. (William Herman Theodore)
Religion
Luther Examined and Reexamined: A Review of Catholic Criticism and a Plea for Revaluation
Dau, W. H. T. (William Herman Theodore)
Luther, Martin, 1483-1546
they were "carnal." "Who is Paul," he exclaims, "and who is Apollos, but
ministers by whom ye believed? . . . Let no man glory in men. For all
things are yours; whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or
life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours" (1
Cor. 3, 4. 5. 20. 21). And Peter, the original Pope in the Catholics'
belief, says: "The elders which are among you I exhort, who am also an
elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of
the glory that shall be revealed: Feed the flock of God which is among
you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly, not
for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind; neither as being lords over God's
heritage, but being ensamples to the flock" (1 Pet. 5, 1-3).
Lastly, Luther's teaching regarding the Church affords a wealth of
comfort and sound direction in view of the divided condition of the
visible Church. Through the ignorance and malice of men and through the
wily activity of Satan, who creates divisions and offenses contrary to
the doctrine of Christ, and is busy sowing tares among the wheat, there
have arisen many church organizations, known by party names, differing
from one another in their creedal statements, and warring upon each
other. This is a sad spectacle to contemplate, and grieves Christian
hearts sorely. But these divisions in the external and visible
organizations do not touch the body of Christ, the communion of saints,
the one holy Christian Church. In all ages and places the true believers
in Christ are a unit. Among those who by faith have "put on the new man,
which is renewed in knowledge after the image of Him that created him,
there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision,
barbarian, Scythian, bond, nor free; but Christ is all, and in all"
(Col. 3, 10. 11). This is the true Catholic, that is, universal, Church.
The visible society which has usurped this name never was, nor is
to-day, the universal Church. Before Protestantism arose, there was the
Eastern Church, which has maintained a separate organization. This holy
Christian Church is indestructible, because the Word of Christ, which is
its bond, shall never pass away, and Christ rules even in the midst of
His enemies. Visible church organizations are valuable only in as far as
they shelter, and are nurseries of, the invisible Church. Luther never
conceived the idea of founding a visible organization more powerful than
the Catholic; he did not mean to pit one ecclesiastical body of men
against another. His single aim was to restore the purity of teaching
and the right administration of the Sacraments in accordance with the
Scriptures. That his followers were named after him, we have shown not
to be Luther's fault: Luther did not form a Church, but reformed the
Church; he did not establish a new creed, but reestablished the old. The
visible society of Lutherans to-day does not regard itself as the
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