Short Stories of the Hymns - From the Lutheran Library Publishing Ministry - Alec Satin - Lutheran Librarian

Newsletter from The Lutheran Library Publishing Ministry

In This Issue

Short Stories Of The Hymns by Henry Kieffer Epistle Selections of the Ancient Church by R.C.H. Lenski Behind the Dictators by Leo Lehmann The Letters of John Hus (Jan Hus) by Herbert B. Workman & R. Martin Pope Of the Church in General: The Lutheran View, Romish, Reformed by Guericke and Krauth [Journal Article]

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Short Stories Of The Hymns by Henry Kieffer “The purpose of this little book is to present to its readers some brief account of the origin and authorship of some of our more familiar hymns… to select from a very large amount of material which the author has for years past been gathering, a few of the more striking and interesting incidents connected with the composition of some of our best known Songs of Zion. “It is quite possible, truly, that this little book may traverse some ground already familiar to some of its readers, but it is believed that to the great majority of them the story of the hymns is new, and will prove interesting and profitable… such facts connected with the origin of the hymns, as the author, after some years of patient search, has found most interesting and instructive to himself.” — Henry Martyn Kieffer. Level of Difficulty: Primer: No subject matter knowledge needed. Why Read This Book? Fascinating stories about well known hymns. This book is an encouragement to faith and just fun to read. Henry Martyn Kieffer (1845-1930), wrote many books including “The Recollections of a Drummer Boy,” “College Chapel Sermons,” “The First Settlers of the Forks of the Delaware,” “It is to Laugh” “The Funny Bone,” etc. Especially valuable is his “Short Stories of the Hymns: A Brief Account Of The Circumstances In Which Some Of Our Best Hymns And Songs Were Written.” Dr. Kieffer served as pastor of the First Reform Church of Easton, Pa., where he translated early German record books of the church into the publication “Some of the First Settlers of The Forks of the Delaware and their descendants from 1760-1852”. Book Contents Dedication Preface 1 Introduction 2 “Jesus, Lover of my Soul” by Charles Wesley A War Incident ◊ Charles Wesley 3 “Nearer, My God To Thee” by Sarah Flower Adams 4 Isaac Watts ◊ Isaac Watts 5 William Cowper and Augustus Toplady 6 William Williams; The Titanic 7 Henry Harbaugh 8 Heber. From Greenland’s Icy Mountains 9 “Just As I Am, Without One Plea.” The Hymn, “Stand up, Stand up for Jesus.” 10 O Little Town of Bethlehem 11 Home Sweet Home The First Singing of “Home, Sweet Home.” Something About “The Star Spangled Banner.” 12 “Closing Hymns” 13 “Praise God From Whom All Blessings Flow.” 14 “O Mother Dear, Jerusalem” The New Jerusalem 16 “The Celestial Country” 17 Conclusion Order a Printed Copy Print Copy: Short Stories Of The Hymns by Henry Kieffer - “Lutheran Librarian” edition Download the eBook PDF Apple/Kobo EPUB Kindle AZW3 Legacy MOBI (If EPUB or AZW3 won’t work on your device) You can expect your book to arrive within a few hours. If you don't find it, check your spam or junk mail folder. You can also request a copy of this or any Lutheran Library e-book by sending an email with the book's title and format. Enjoy the book! Publication Information Lutheran Library edition first published: 2020 Copyright: CC BY 4.0 Read more

Recent Books and Articles Published

Short Stories Of The Hymns by Henry Kieffer “The purpose of this little book is to present to its readers some brief account of the origin and authorship of some of our more familiar hymns… to select from a very large amount of material which the author has for years past been gathering, a few of the more striking and interesting incidents connected with the composition of some of our best known Songs of Zion. “It is quite possible, truly, that this little book may traverse some ground already familiar to some of its ... Read more Epistle Selections of the Ancient Church by R.C.H. Lenski “The need of a more adequate exegetical-homiletical treatment of the ancient gospel and epistle selections has long been felt. The manager of the Lutheran Book Concern has commissioned the writer of these lines to meet this need.” — R.C.H. Lenski Hardback edition now available! “…all epistle texts are selections from letters directed to certain definite persons for a certain important spiritual purpose. What the preacher of today does is to place himself and his hearers in the light of ... Read more Behind the Dictators by Leo Lehmann “What the Catholic Church is hoping and working for… is the reestablishment… of the ‘Real State,’ a rigid hierarchical system wherein inferiors are subject to superiors. In this system each individual, like a cell in a body, must humbly submit to his fate and occupy his “natural place” which is allotted to him from birth and have no desire to get away from it. “This basis of social structure is not only anti-Jewish, but also anti-Protestant. It ... Read more The Letters of John Hus (Jan Hus) by Herbert B. Workman & R. Martin Pope “The Letters of Hus have long been recognized by the best judges as one of the world’s spiritual treasures. The discovery of Hus, if we may so express it, forms more than once a landmark in the spiritual development of Luther. “‘When I was a tyro at Erfurt,’ we read, ‘I found in the library of the convent a volume of The Sermons of John Hus. When I read the title I had a great curiosity to know what doctrines that heresiarch had propagated, since a volume like ... Read more Of the Church in General: The Lutheran View, Romish, Reformed by Guericke and Krauth [Journal Article] “The conception of the Evangelical Lutheran church proceeds from the inward spiritual essence of the church, as a communion of faith, love, the Holy Ghost, knit together by means of the word of God and the sacraments, but which also forms itself into a body in an outward manifestation. “In this outward manifestation, she is to be recognized by word and sacrament, as the outward conditions of what is within, and by confession, whose purity and unity, as in the case of word and ... Read more Lutheran Fundamentals: A Simple System of Scripture Truth with Applications for the Common Man by George Gerberding “The Church needs to restudy, to re-accept, to reaffirm, to re-experience justification by faith… Has not a large part of the Protestant Church practically lost this Reformation doctrine? …Is she not unconsciously drifting back into the old Romish heresy of justification by works, by service, by doing? Is she not, unconsciously perhaps, drifting into the Rationalistic and Unitarian idea of justification by self-made character? “The doctrine of justification by faith ... Read more Gospel Truths: Presenting Christ and the Christian Life by John Edwin Whitteker “This little volume of sermons has been prepared in response to repeated appeals from the people who heard them from the pulpit… they have been chosen from a cabinet of upwards of two thousand discourses. “In their preparation for pulpit use, two thoughts were constantly kept in mind: to preach Christ as the Way, the Truth, and the Life, with all their redemptive significance, and to implant in the minds and hearts of those who listened to their deliverance, those principles ... Read more May God cause his face to shine upon you and bring you peace. From Your Lutheran Librarian editor@lutheranlibrary.org

No Apologies for Apologetics

KJV 1 Peter 3:13 And who is he that will harm you, if ye be followers of that which is good?

14 But and if ye suffer for righteousness' sake, happy are ye: and be not afraid of their terror, neither be troubled;

15 But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear:

15 κυριον δε τον θεον αγιασατε εν ταις καρδιαις υμων ετοιμοι δε αει προς απολογιαν παντι (always give an answer) τω αιτουντι υμας λογον περι της εν υμιν ελπιδος μετα πραυτητος και φοβου

16 Having a good conscience; that, whereas they speak evil of you, as of evildoers, they may be ashamed that falsely accuse your good conversation in Christ.

17 For it is better, if the will of God be so, that ye suffer for well doing, than for evil doing.

Christian Apologetics

The term apologetics is the long lost part of historic Lutherdom, now in the grip of dogmatics, the art of filtering all Christian doctrine through the secular tools of philosophy. Aristotle is where dogmatics started for Protestants and Roman Catholics.

The Reformation went off the rails when the Lutherans began answering the eloquent nonsense of the Calvinists, falling for their terms and trying to rebut them in beautiful Latin. The last of the Lutheran dogmatics became rationalistic and Pietistic. When Jay Webber searches for someone who taught Objective (Faithless) Justification, the obscure source ends up coming from Pietism.

Dogma is inherently institutional. The Church of Rome holds everything together with their dogma, infallible declarations full of deceit, having little or no support in the Scriptures. Example - Mary was born without sin and assumed into heaven. "Holy Mother Church has always taught this truth." That by itself is a lie, as Catholic scholars have admitted. Also, nothing in the Bible suggests that the Roman Catholic Jesuit translation/paraphrase inserted the dogma in Genesis 3. The Douay- Rheims Jesuit Bible is about Mary's heel crushing Satan. Yes, "her heel."

Luther's writings were mostly Apologetics, using the Word of God to defend the truth and to attack false teaching. That continued under Melanchthon, Chemnitz, and Gerhard. We are now at the point where the "conservative Lutherans" have used the 500th Anniversary of the Reformation to mock Luther's teaching of the Scriptures by selling goofy, crude, stupid trinkets. That came from Concordia Publishing House, which is 100% Seminex now. Letting CPH publish the Large Catechism - again - is like trusting the Jesuit Pope Francis to discuss the Bible and his precious Codex Vaticanus (a Greek translation of the Latin, so not exactly ancient and trustworthy).

Yes, the Opponents Freak Out

"Aha!" as the wicked say, they must smother the blaze started by Matt the Fatt waffling on the Large Catechism, which is strangely co-edited by ELCA leaders. I have noticed that the ALPB Online Ovaltine seniors have suddenly stopped discussing the CPH fiasco. The LutherQuestioners have also cooled their jets. It is like walking into a bathroom and noticing the crickets have stopped singing.

I am inclined to think that Matt the Fatt's political team has told both sides to silence themselves, because "It is hurting Holy Mother Missouri."

Many have told me what the WELS and LCMS genius class have said to them. I have also lost count of the people who really enjoyed these posts and suddenly went silent. Nevertheless, 2000 viewed the posts yesterday, doubtless much more attention than they get with their insurance funded publications, conventions, and luxury gatherings (district presidents, staffers, basking in the sunlight for their joint annual secret conference).

My only aim is to argue from the Scriptures and the Lutheran Reformation. The apostates need to argue with the Word of God itself, not with their shopworn ad hominems.