The Conservative Reformation and Its Theology - Saint Mary ...

taught; they defend their error as right, and fight against known truth, and
against their own consciences--self-willed and consciously they remain in
their error." "It is not right, and I am truly sorry that these miserable
people are murdered, burnt, and executed. Every one should be left to
believe what he will, (man sollte ja einen jeglichen lassen glauben was er
wollte.) How easy is it to err! Let us ward against them with the Scripture,
not with fire." 134
It is not charity to bear with others because the differences between
us are trifling; it is charity to bear with them although the differences are
great. Charity does not cover error; because error is the daughter of sin,
and charity is the daughter of God. Charity covers errorists so far as she
may without palliating their errors, for the errorist, as a man, is God's child.
Charity is the reflex of love to God, and our Church, therefore, is loyal to
his truth even when she is most tender to those who err from that truth. If
there have been bigoted, inquisitorial, and harsh judges of others who bear
her name, it is not from her they derived these peculiarities, and such men
know not the spirit they are of. Never are great systems more cruelly
misrepresented than by some who claim to be their friends. While,
therefore, many of the pretended representations of Lutheran theology
have been gross misrepresentations, they have not always been the result
of ignorance, or of malice, but have proceeded from nominal friends,
sometimes from timidity of character, and sometimes from a harsh, fierce
spirit, which delights to aggravate differences, and make them hopeless.
This aggravation has been made by enemies from hatred of the system.
They wished to excite disgust at it. But the same sort of representation has
also been made by a different class, who were moved by hatred to other
systems, quite as much as by love to the system they espoused. They
considered the Lutheran system not only as true, but as in such sense
having all the truth, that no other church has the least share of it. They were
not satisfied with showing that others are less scriptural than ourselves, or
in important respects depart from the teachings of the Word, but they were
determined to show that
134 Werke, Walch. xvii. 2624.