Gerhard and Walther

Those who regard it [God’s Word and preaching] as an insignificant treasure, very seldom attend [the Divine Service].—Johann Gerhard, Schola Pietatis III:410.

When man was still in the state in which God had created him in Eden, his greatest blessedness consisted in God Himself dwelling in his soul. God was the light of his reason and the moving power of his will. Since all people fell into sin with the first father, Adam, man’s greatest misery is that by nature he wanders around without God’s Word.—C. F. W. Walther, God Grant It!, p. 708.