Address at the Dedication of the Walther Mausoleum
By Francis Pieper
1892
Translated by Matthew Harrison

Yesterday at the Bates St. cemetery of the local Germany Trinity and Holy Cross congregations the sepulcher commemorating the departed Dr. C.F.W. Walther was dedicated. The mausoleum was devoted to the memory of the departed by the local Evangelical Lutheran congregations. The service began about 4:00 p.m. and in brief and impressive fashion lasted three quarters of an hour. Many many members of the local Evangelical Lutheran Congregations came by way of the Oak Hill Branch of the Missouri Pacific Railroad. Also present were many Germans who are not members of the congregations yet hold the memory of the departed in high esteem.

After Pastor Hermann Bartels spoke a few introductory words, the gathering sang the beautiful church hymn “Jesus, meine Zuversicht” [Christ My Sure Defense], after which the aforementioned pastor read the Bible text 1 Corinthians 15:12-23, 55, 57. Another hymn by the congregation, glorifying the eternal life won through Christ, led to the following festival address delivered by Professor F. Pieper.

Dear Brethren in the Faith!

It was on May 7 in the year 1887 that God called out of this life the blessed Dr. Walther, professor of theology at the local Concordia College and Pastor of the local Lutheran Gesammtgemeinde. Ten days later, on May 17, we buried his body here. After five years the same death has given us occasion to assemble at the same place and in like numbers. We have not forgotten the departed one, and we do not want to forget him. This finished sepulcher should also be an external support for our remembrance.

Some months ago, in another place, we also had opportunity to think about his great and faithful teacher. We have erected his statue, hewn of marble, in the aula of our theological institution. And justifiably so! Dr. Walther was a great theological instructor. Indeed, he was – and I well know what I am saying – the greatest theologian of this century. It’s not that there were not men in this century who have acquired a greater external knowledge in the disciplines which contribute to the study of theology. But there is no known theologian of our century who had exceeded Walther in that which forms the very essence of theology, namely the clear and certain knowledge of the doctrine revealed in the scriptures, and in the ability to present this doctrine convincingly. God also used Walther to exercise a wide ranging salutary influence upon the church at large. Even those who found themselves opposed to him acknowledge this.

But Walther was not only a great theological instructor and a great
teacher of the church in general. He was also – this we must confess to
God’s glory – great as a practical preacher and curate of souls
[Seelsorger]. There are many men who as theologians have a great name,
but with all their theology can not rightly teach and lead a
congregation, and thereby demonstrate that they deserve the name
“theologian” only in a limited sense. Walther was a theologian who
could also apply his entire theology in leading souls and thereby show
that his theology was the correct form. It did not consist in the
spouting of more or less learned appearing human speculations. His
theology was rather the ability to communicate the saving truth
revealed in the Holy Scriptures to lead souls to salvation.

Let me now speak to you about Walther as a practical preacher and
curate of souls. The theme is very comprehensive. I can keep this short
because most of you knew Walther the pastor from your own experience.

Walther was above all a true pastor in his public preaching. His
preaching was as didactic, that is, presenting the doctrine as clear
and sharp, as it was heartfelt, warm and urgent. In every sermon he
gave clear instruction from the scriptures on doctrine. But every
hearer had to note that it had to do not with a mere communication of
knowledge, but with the soul and salvation. He preached law and gospel
in correct distinction and in their correct connection. He preached the
law so that the hearer had to acknowledge: “I can not through my works
be saved. In God’s eyes I am a damnable sinner; if I am regarded
according to what I merit then wrath and eternal damnation are mine.”
But then he preached so that he poured forth the entire fullness of the
free grace of God revealed in the gospel for his hearers. He preached,
that for every sinner – even the greatest – grace has been won by
Christ and is present in the gospel. Thus no sinner need doubt, rather
in faith in the gospel he can and should say: “The blood of Jesus
Christ, the Son of God, cleanses us from all sin.” The clearly
acknowledged truth that God through Christ is completely reconciled
with all men lay at the base of every one of Walther’s sermons. Thus
the proper task of a Christian preacher consists in bringing men to
faith in the redemption which has occurred and keeping men in this
faith. Walther also understood how as a preacher to fill Christians
with the desire for good works and a God fearing life! He understood
the art of stirring Christians to good works, without making human
works the basis for salvation and without falling into a legalistic
conversion of works. He admonished Christians to good works, “through
the mercy of God” that is, through remembrance of the fact that for the
sake of Christ, heaven and salvation are already given to them. Walther
was convinced that with the correct evangelical admonition one could
accomplish everything among Christians.

Furthermore, Walther was a true pastor also in the private care of
souls. Here in particular the old members of the congregation can speak
from experience. But also those of us who are younger noted from
occasional communications of Walther regarding his pastoral activity
take, how for him every individual soul lay on his heart, and how he in
particular went after the erring. The opposition, indeed the open
hostility which he indeed experienced on the part of the erring, did
not prevent him from carrying out his office. He saw in these fallen
ones only those purchased by the precious blood of Christ, but now
souls captive in the net of sin. The curate of souls must seek to
rescue them from perdition. Many such persons treated this way by
Walther later came to thank this true curate of souls with tears in
their eyes. Even when Walther had already been active as a theological
professor as his proper office, he was often drawn into exercising
private admonition.

Walther was also a true pastor through faithful intercession for the
congregation. In his theological instruction he admonished future
pastors to pray daily for their congregations in general and for
individual members, whose spiritual or physical need is known to the
pastor. He himself did this faithfully in the pastoral office. He made
it a rule daily and regularly to pray for the congregation. When his
office compelled him to speak with an individual, he had already
previously spoken to God regarding that person. The need of the member
of his congregation was his own need and drove him to prayer; their joy
was his joy and moved him to pray in thanksgiving.

I must remind Lutheran congregations of something else. It was
chiefly through the witness of Walther that in our time the biblical
doctrine of the nature, the value and the duty of a Christian
congregation was again placed in its proper light.

The often forgotten doctrine that not a sum of churchly orders or
churchly persons, rather the Christians themselves are the Christian
congregation or church, he had again demonstrated to be the doctrine
confessed in the Scriptures and in the Lutheran confessions. What
blessings this knowledge brought for the church! With this knowledge
all in external association with the congregation, will seriously
examine themselves, whether or not there is in their hearts the living
faith in Christ, the Savior. With this knowledge the church can not
foolishly rely on external means of power or any kind of worldly
institutions to build itself. The church’s entire concern is based upon
the faithful and diligent preaching of the word of God. This preaching
of the word alone works and maintains faith in Christ in the heart. It
alone can build the church.

Walther had also testified powerfully again to the doctrine of the
rights of a Christian congregation, a doctrine which had largely been
forgotten in Lutheran Christianity. He had again placed into proper
light the worth of the Christian congregation granted it by Christ. He
bore witness again that all spiritual goods and rights, which there are
in the church, belong not to one person or a few persons or to a
particular estate in the church, rather to the entire congregation of
believers. Through faith in Christ Christians possess the forgiveness
of sins. They are children of God and have salvation. Christ has given
to them originally and immediately the word and sacraments and all
spiritual goods and rights. They, the Christians congregations,
therefore also have the right and duty to call preachers, and to
dismiss false teachers. Walther had also powerfully taught again the
freedom of the Christian from all human regulations. As decisively as
he emphasized that the Christian congregation must submit
unconditionally to the word of God, and all doctrine and admonition,
taken from the holy scriptures, requires unconditional obedience, so
decisively did he also maintain that no man, no matter how high his
position in the world, may lay upon a Christian anything as a binding
matter of conscience which is not commanded in the Scriptures.

Finally, Walther did not neglect to show the congregations their
Christian duties. He taught: the entire congregation is to be concerned
for and is therefore answerable to Christ to see that God’s word hold
sway pure and clear and richly in its midst. The entire Christian
congregation is thus the spiritual society [Verein] established by God,
that is to place the light of divine truth upon the lamp stand. Walther
taught: the entire congregation has the duty, to see to it that in its
midst Christian discipline is exercised, in order to guard against
offense and so that the fallen brother be returned to the way of life.
The Christian congregation is therefore the society established by God,
in which the members are duty bound, to aid each other toward the
acquisition of the final goal, the acquisition of salvation. Walther
taught: the entire Christian congregation is duty bound, to take on
also the physical need of its brothers, knowing that in these suffering
brothers Christ suffers, and that in them Christ is served. Walther
taught: the entire Christian congregation is given the concern for the
spreading of the church through the preaching of the gospel. The
establishment, maintenance and upkeep of Christian institutions are
duties inseparably bound together with the Christian estate. The entire
Christian congregation is therefore the mission society established by
Christ.

Congregations are indebted above all to Dr. Walther for the clear
witness to these divine truths. Truly, the congregations have every
reason to thank this man who is their teacher. We do not wish to simply
leave it at establishing this monument. Rather, by this monument we
would above all remind ourselves to firmly maintain the divine truth to
which he bore witness, and to follow his example, which he as pastor
and as Christian gave us by God’s grace. And finally: we stand at the
grave of a man, for whom Christian doctrine and Christian faith was no
mere theory. It was rather praxis. He fulfilled the course and kept the
faith to the end. God grant us all grace, that this earthly life and
finally also death, is for us the entrance into eternal life, where we
shall thank God from eternity to eternity for all benefits, and also
for the gift of this great and faithful teacher. Amen.