# Der Lutheraner_St. Louis Missouri_1851 07 08_S182
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182

was anything but encouraging, since the then Danish governor, Mr. Hansen, had nothing less in mind than to prevail upon the Danish Missionscollegium to deliver the Tranquebar mission over to the English. Under such circumstances, and in consideration of the commissions I had received at home, I resolved to leave Tranquebar again, and to seek out a new field of labour among the Telugu population north of Madras. Br. Ochs, in consequence of tidings received from our Mission Committee in Dresden, decided to accompany me; and so at the end of the month of May 1844 we left Tranquebar again and went by way of Madras and Masulipetam to Guntur, where we met the missionaries of the American Lutheran mission, Mr. Heyer and Mr. Gunn. There we resolved to remain until the Lord should show us where we should next pitch our staff. Mr. Heyer, a Hanoverian, who, driven by the love of Christ, went as a preacher to America and from there as a missionary to India, is a sincere, dear man. He is filled with zeal for the work of the Lord and shuns no hardships in his calling. Withal he is obliging toward everyone, even there where he knows that he will not be thanked for it. Although he has saved much that is German and also some fragments of churchly sense and character, he is nevertheless no Lutheran. — Mr. Gunn is likewise a modest, sincere and well-disposed man; but what the Lutheran Church and doctrine are, of that he has no knowledge. Among them I had opportunity to become acquainted with the textbooks of the American Pseudo-Lutherans, written by Mr. Schmucker and others. From them I saw that the doctrine of these good little people is essentially only an echo of vulgar Zwinglianism. None the less they carry on with the name "Lutheran" an insufferable idolatry. Thus Mr. Gunn's first-born little son was baptized, in the most anti-Lutheran manner conceivable, with the name Luther! — But I forget, I am writing thee here things which thou knowest better from daily experience in America than I. — While we were staying in Guntur, the Lord, after many gloomy days, let joy and gladness shine upon us again. Mr. Stockes, the collector there, received one day a letter from a friend, who informed him that the mission property belonging to the English Church Mission at Majaweram, 8 or 9 hours north-west from here, was to be sold to a heathen, which would be much to be regretted. Mr. Stockes asked Br. Ochs whether we would take over Majaweram and occupy it with a labourer, in case he and some of his friends should buy it for us. Br. Ochs naturally accepted the offer with joy and thanks, and sent me word of it, I being just then on a journey of inquiry to Rajahmundry. At the same time Br. Cordes also informed us that Tranquebar had really been sold to the English, and that we must now concentrate our forces for the preservation of the congregations. In consequence of this Br. Ochs departed from Guntur in November 1844 and took over the new station of Majaweram; and some months later I also returned to Tranquebar. — Although Governor Hansen did everything to move the Danish Missionscollegium to give the mission over to the English, it nevertheless did not come to pass; since especially the late King Christian VIII declared that the mission must remain Lutheran. — The church belonging to the European congregation, on the other hand, Mr. Hansen played into the hands of the English by cunning and deceitful means. Because now the King and the Missionscollegium at Copenhagen did not accede to the aforesaid proposal of Mr. Hansen, the administration of the mission was committed provisionally to Br. Cordes in April 1846; which provisional arrangement lasted until the 30th of September 1849, on which day the mission and its properties were fully delivered over to us, for our Missionscollegium at Leipzig. — The congregations in the formerly Danish territory are two; of which the one has a church in Tranquebar, called the Jerusalem Church, and numbers about 600 souls; the other, with the Bethlehem Church at Poreiar, numbers somewhat over 1000 souls. The former is under the care of Br. Cordes, the latter under mine. In September 1845 Brother Appelt arrived here and devoted himself especially to the work in the schools. On the first Sunday in Advent 1846 I took over the care of the Bethlehem congregation, and at the same time we undertook an improvement and perfecting of our order of divine service. In March 1847 the four brethren Mylius, Schmeisser, Kremmer and Wolff arrived here. Since the last three and Br. Appelt were not ordained, we ordained them on the 18th of October 1847 in our Jerusalem Church. The brethren Schmeisser and Wolff were thereupon stationed at Majaweram, Br. Mylius with me at Poreiar, Br. Kremmer at Tranquebar with Br. Cordes, and Br. Appelt received the care of the Portuguese congregation. — On the 27th of December 1847 the wife of our Br. Cordes died of the cholera, and since he himself had been very weak for a long time, he departed from here at the beginning of March 1848 for Germany. Meanwhile the Lord had laid manifold blessing upon our labour, so that in the Bethlehem Church in the course of some months at the end of the year 1847 about 50 souls out of the heathen were baptized. Because their dwelling-places lay too far from me, and my congregation was already the largest in number of souls, we resolved to form a new congregation out of the newly baptized, the centre of which was to be a village named Tirumenjanam, and which was to be tended by Br. Schmeisser. To this end he came hither from Majaweram and took up his dwelling for the time with me. Since he exposed himself too carelessly to the sun, he began already in March 1848 to sicken, and his condition grew worse from day to day. On the advice of the physician he was to go to the Cape of Good Hope, but came only as far as Madras, where at the beginning of the month of June he entered into the mansions of eternal peace. There now his mortal frame rests in the burial-ground of the Independents until the Lord shall come and awaken him from the grave. Br. Wolff, who had accompanied our blessed Schmeißer to Madras, married some time afterward in that place. At the same time, soon after Br. Cordes's departure, we received a petition from about 400 Tamil Christians in Madras, who had separated from the English Church and wished to be received into the communion of our Lutheran Church. After some protracted negotiations with them they were received by us at the end of the month of October 1848, and Br. Kremmer was sent to them to tend them. Thus the Lord has opened to us in Madras also again a door, and has led back to it a part of the members originally belonging to our Church. But here also the Lord added many to our Bethlehem congregation, and almost every Sunday a number out of the heathen was baptized. Hence we founded a second branch congregation of Bethlehem, which has its centre in the village of Pudenur, 5 English miles west-south-west from here. For both daughter congregations we built chapels; that in Pudenur was consecrated on the 22nd of July, and that in Tirumenjanam on the 24th of October 1849. The care of the latter, to which about one hundred and eighty souls belong, Brother Appelt has; that of the former, to which about 160 souls belong, I have.

At the same time we received yet another field of labour, namely in Pudukotta, 75 English miles west-south-west from here. This field of labour had for some time been worked by the American missionaries in Madura, yet without visible success. Since it was moreover too remote for them, they offered it to us; and we found no scruple in accepting it. Br. Wolff has had the care of it since the beginning of last year. In March 1849 the number of our labourers was strengthened by the arrival of Br. Glasell; and Br. Cordes, who had married again in Germany, also returned in the following October to his old post. — In May of this year Mr. Director Graul came here with his wife, partly to see the mission here itself, partly to travel further through the mission field. Unfortunately, however, his arrival has been marked by a rent in our mission, the final outcome of which cannot be foretold. Since October of last year, namely, a tension had arisen between the newly arrived Br. Glasell and several of the older brethren, in consequence of which Br. Glasell withdrew from our connection in December of last year. As the Mr. Director was on his way hither, the Collegium commissioned him to investigate the matter on the spot. That also was done; but the consequence was that Br. Glasell left us and went to Bombay, and Br. Mylius his En-