The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1930-06-19
.LUTHERANS WILL
HAVE CELEBRATION
400th Anniversary of Augs-
berg Confession to Be
Read June 25
AN IMPORTANT EVENT
Members Active Without Res
ervatiOn to Creed Over
400 Years Old


Rev. J. F. Schumacher of Zion
Lutheran Church informs us that
Lutherans throughout the world
will this year celebrate the 40Oth
anniversary of the reading of the
Augsburg Confession which event
took place June %, 1880. He SUBJ
mits the following information
which will no doubt be of interest
to many of our readers.
Throughout the world millions Of
Lutherans are preparing to cele-
brate this year the four hundredth
anniversary of the reading of the
Augsburg confession before the
Diet of Augsburg on June rs, 1880.
In an age which largely demands
mot creed but life" it is notewor-
thy that an entire church should
not only commemorate the publica-
ton of its first official confession
of faith but should adhere without
reservation to a creed four hundred
years old, the oldest in force among
Christians to-day. Lutherans be-
lieve that a life without creed is
like a ship without a rudder, that
conscience can be right and can be
kept unerring only when guided
and shaped by definite principles
supplied by the scriptures. Since
the Lutheran confessors at Augs-
burg made the bible the one and
only source of Christian faith and
confirmed every statement by
clear passages of scriptures, Luth-
Grams today maintain that the pass
ing of centuries can not in the
least have affected their Confess
ion and therefore still acknowledge
it unflinchingly and uphold it
staunchly.
At the Diet of Spires in 1929 the
Lutheran minority had protested
against the action of the majority
and thus gained for itself the name
"Protestants," which is now applied
also to other denominations which
came into being later but had no
part in the original protest. In the
following year Emperor Charles VI
called upon the Lutherans to pre-
pare a statement of their teachings
to be presented for consideration
at the Diet of Augsburg. AS is to be
expected in the light of the con-
troversy then raging, the document
stresses the cardinal point of diff
erence between the two opposing
parties, the justification of man
before God by faith alone, that a
man is declared righteous before
God not in consideration of his own
virtues and character but solely and
alone because of the merits OF
Christ which have become his
through faith ,.--
"Lutherans point with pride to-
, the sound political principles set
forth in the Augsburg Confession
/ Two hundred and fifty years before
the American Constitution was
written their forefathers insisted
upon the very principles which
were first put into practice unreser-
vedly by the United States, the
absolute separation of Church and
State and the liberty of the individ-
ual conscience. The Augsburg Con-
fession asserts the clearly defined
and separate spheres of church and
, state. It declares correctly and I'M
mistakably the rights of the state
over the Christian as a subject as
we'll as the Christians duty to the
state as a subject. 1t overthrow the
conception that the church is a
great World-dominating power
taught the obligation of legitimate
civil ordinance, the lawfulness Of
Christians bearing civil office, the
right of the state to demand oaths,
to enact penalties and to wage
"just wars" and the obligation Of
the Christian citizen to bear part in
them. It made no attempt to visit
civil penalties upon men refusing to
accept it's teachings. It lighted no
pyres to burn heretics.
can article of particular interest
to Americans today is the 18th
reading as follows: Since the
power of the church grants things
and is exercised only by the min
istry of the Word, it does not inter-
fere with civil government. For
civil government deals with other
things than does the Gospel. The
civil rules defend not minds but
bodily things against manifest in
juries and restrain men with the
sword and bodily punishment in
order to preserve civil justice and
peace. Therefore the power of the
Church and the civil power must
not be COMPOUNDED. The power OF
the Church has its own commission,
to teach the Gospel and to admin
lister the Sacraments. Let it not
break into the office of another;
let it not transfer the kingdoms Of
this world; let it not abrogate the
laws of civil rules; let it not abol-
ish lawful obedience; let it not in
terfere with judgments concerning
civil ordinance or contracts; let it
not prescribe laws to civil rulers
concerning the form of the Com
monwealth." Our legislators in
Washington would no doubt be
greatly pleased to see these prin-
ciples find more hearty and more
general acceptance"