# Der Lutheraner_St. Louis Missouri_1853 08 02_S174
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

174

Jesuits, to undermine the English Church, and that we held Romish doctrine and practices. When we demanded proofs from this man, he furnished them also in a manner worthy of himself. On the first point he said he had not meant to assert by it that we were actually in connection with the Jesuits; for the second, the proof lay in this, that one of his catechists (native assistant) had found out from a conversation with me, and he himself from a conversation with some members of our congregation, that we taught transubstantiation, or at least its twin brother, consubstantiation; further, because in our Catechism the commandments are divided just as the Roman Church divides them; because we made the sign of the cross in pronouncing the blessing in divine service; because, in proof of our doctrine of the Lord's Supper, we appealed to the same passages of Scripture which the Romans cited for theirs; because in one of our churches a crucifix stood upon the altar. That this has always been the custom, not only in the Lutheran Church in general, but also in the mission here, troubles not this miserable man, who, moreover, knows next to nothing of the heart of the evangelical doctrine, of justification by faith alone. I should not even mention his attack, had he not thereby lent expression to the disposition which our opponents here bear toward us. Our Church and mission here is a thorn in their eye, and if therefore the less conscientious among them bear false witness against us without scruple, that ought not to surprise us greatly; but one must be astonished when one sees and hears how they mock at the whole history, in order to brand all our older missionaries as lickspittles of the English Church, and thereby as men who, unmindful of their oath given, had gathered only for the English Church. The blessed Ziegenbalg is said to have already stood in the service of the English Church and to have used the Common prayer book; although not a syllable of it is true. Yes, in order to vindicate him wholly to themselves, they even let him die and be buried in Cuddalore, 60 English miles north of here, whereas he fell blessedly asleep here in Tranquebar and lies buried in our Jerusalem Church beside the altar. — The blessed Schwarz, they say, belongs without further ado to the English Church, because he was ordained by the -N. B. Lutheran- bishop in Copenhagen. He was ordained by a bishop, after all! — That the Episcopal Church seeks to strengthen and extend itself here, who would blame it for that; and if, visited by the Lord with blessing, it becomes a blessing to the poor heathen here, who would not rejoice over it? But its manner of procedure, which I just noted, no one will surely seriously call one rich in blessing for the kingdom of the Lord. Since it, to be sure, imagines that it alone can withstand the gates of hell and that it alone is the one to whom the promises of the Lord apply, it ought little to surprise us when we see how far pride and folly are able to blind even well-disposed people. A striking example of this is furnished by the speech of a distinguished and high-placed man, delivered on the 6th of January of this year in Madras in a public assembly at the celebration of the jubilee of the gospel society, and printed in the organ of the said society (Madras Quarterly Missionary Journal, Vol. II. No. 7. pag. 242.), wherein it is said, among other things, of the English State Church: "She was the great barrier of Protestantism; the great fortress, compact and well defined; a tower of strength; she was their more than Fort St. George; (the fortress in Madras;) a tower of strength round which the Protestant world might rally. He felt assured that all Protestants would come in at the last." These words need no translation into German; they speak for themselves; and if the good man had spoken the truth, it would be unnecessary to sing further: "A mighty fortress is our God," since the English State Church, with the defensor fidei at its head and the princely-salaried bishops on the bench, would visibly take the place of the invisible Lord, whom the Lutheran Church knows and confesses as the ever-present rock of her salvation and as her strong fortress. It goes without saying that not all earnest-minded Englishmen here are so blinded, or cherish such foolish hopes; nevertheless they are almost without exception hostile to our mission, and not a few declare outright that their helping hand is indeed at the service of everyone without regard to his faith, only not of the Lutherans. Toward other confessional societies and missions people are exceedingly tolerant; they are liberally supported with gifts by members of the English Church, and occasionally have some praise bestowed on them too, since it is quite well recognized that the congregations gathered by them will sooner or later enter into the bosom of the Episcopal Church. — You must not conclude from what has been said that the enmity against our Church is found only among members of the State Church; the sects, and especially the Scots of the Free Church, are filled with the greatest bitterness against us and at the same time also against our blessed forefathers. The difference consists in this, that the High Church lays claim to the old missionaries one and all as its own property, and would like to weed us out as intruders; while the Scots and the sects seek to blacken the fathers of this mission together with us as half Papists, yes, as half heathen. If we would only blow into one horn with them, it would soon be otherwise. Here there are missionaries who teach the most pernicious heresies and [illegible], who deny original sin, explain the Trinity in a Socinian way, and so forth, and yet they are honored, encouraged and praised as the most worthy brethren in Christ; but if you confess the pure doctrine of the Sacraments, all friendship comes to an end, and you will be decried throughout all India as a very dangerous man, of whom everyone must beware. It is therefore no wonder if one must say that the blessing has departed from the mission in general. People make, to be sure, much ado about what is now being done; but for the most part there is not much behind it, and the accounts usually show only that much money has been spent. Compare for once the mission as it was here some 120 years ago and as it now is in India. Our fathers began the work here under very adverse circumstances; the country was everywhere closed to them, torn by war and internal disturbances, and their means were very small, and yet, by the grace of the Lord and blessed by Him, they gathered congregations, built churches, translated and printed good writings, and so forth. Now the circumstances are exceedingly favorable, the country everywhere open, accessible, peaceful and safe, the means of the English societies extraordinarily great, and yet what is done is very little. I would by no means throw a stone at others, nor try to pull out their splinters, when we have so many accusations to make against ourselves; but this nevertheless I believe, that were the honor of the Lord alone sought, less experimenting done, and the fatherly manner of our old missionaries not so haughtily ignored or despised, the Lord would again pour out His Holy Spirit and His rich blessing in full streams upon the mission. — It is indeed just, fair and necessary, when the small successes of the mission here in India on the whole are spoken of, to take into account also the character of the people. The Indians are childish, characterless, cringing, without sense of right, and in their desires wholly absorbed in the earthly. The belly is their god. Whether a man is happy is inferred from his well-fed condition. Sense for the higher and the eternal is wholly lacking in them. Since the Europeans are now the lords of the country, the Hindus are also content to hear the Word of God from missionaries, and in order not to displease the "Lords," (to please the master,) they also make their approval known, praise the precious doctrines, express the hope that all India will soon accept them, say that there is nothing in idol worship, and then go home, wash themselves carefully in order to remove the uncleanness which the touch or the presence of an unclean European brought upon them, and remain as before. If one takes in this, moreover, the condition of the congregations gathered from the Indians, one often finds one's heart heavy, and one believes one is laboring in vain and spending one's strength for nothing and uselessly. It therefore needs frequent refreshing and encouragement, that one may not let the hands sink, nor grow weary in one's courage, but sow the seed of the Word, hoping against hope, and look for the blessing from the Lord. For it is indeed the cause of the Lord, and the office that of our God. He will also here in India, among these captives of Satan, glorify His name, and out of the dark-