# Der Lutheraner_St. Louis Missouri_1849 02 20_S101
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

101

nothing better, she went occasionally to the worship of the Methodists. Since I heard from her at the same time that her daughter had only recently joined the Methodists, merely because there was no Lutheran preacher there, I took the opportunity to dissuade her from attending Methodist preaching and to point her to the blessing of private edification in such an emergency. Thereupon she had me conducted to several Lutheran families, who indeed all wished to have a ministry among them, but had now become quite disheartened, since of late so many were going over to the Methodists and the number of Lutherans had melted down to a few families. I gave them the necessary directions, sold them all my catechisms, and appointed divine service for the evening after next, for which a house was offered me at once.

The next day I had set aside for a visit to a settlement that lies seven miles from the town. A Swiss took me along on his ox-wagon and asked me to stay overnight with him, and the next morning to hold divine service in his house and baptize his child. I preached before a small assembly, performed the baptism, distributed tracts, conferred with the people about their provision with church ministry, and heard, alas, the sad news also that only a couple of Lutheran families were still there, but all the rest who live in this settlement had gone over to the Methodists. In the afternoon I walked back to town again, and after I had rested an hour, I began the service, at which a small number of Lutherans and some Reformed appeared. I had resolved, according to Psalm 27:4, to commend to my hearers the glory and blessedness of the public services in which God's Word is preached purely and clearly and the Sacraments are administered according to the institution of the Lord. At the sight of these poor forsaken sheep my heart was moved to its depths, and the Lord gave grace that I could speak earnestly to their souls. Many an eye swam with tears, many a sigh became audible, as I laid their spiritual misery to my hearers' hearts and earnestly entreated them to do everything possible to obtain a preacher of the orthodox church. But alas, I see well enough myself that for the present there is no thinking of the church's providing for these poor people — and alas, if not now, then in the future perhaps not at all. The Methodists are here, as it were, masters of the house. Only recently they are said to have received into their communion a little flock of our former fellow believers, so that there are now perhaps only ten Lutheran families in the town and a few in the country, and how long will even these remain steadfast, if help is not soon extended to them! Earnestly to recommend good Postils, the reading of the Lutheraner, and prayer and supplication for a preacher, was all that I could leave behind at parting. One man, however, who was not wholly unacquainted with the Scriptures and in general expressed himself very well, asked as I was about to leave for my address and yours, as also for a copy of the synodical constitution, and promised to do his utmost that a little congregation might in time still come into being. How necessary it would be that these few people be visited from time to time by a traveling preacher of our Synod, so that they might not wholly fall away "from the comfort of the right faith," and so that at last a little Lutheran congregation might blossom forth with the town, which would certainly grow in time, since Iowa City by its situation will probably increase considerably in size in a short while. If this were not to be hoped of Iowa City, the Romanists, Methodists, and others would not be so active here. O, dear brother, if we would only think more often and more diligently of the Lord's Word: "The harvest is great, but the labourers are few; pray ye therefore the Lord, that he would send labourers into his harvest."

That I am now staying a few days again in Bloomington is a matter of necessity, as I mentioned at the beginning. After my return from Iowa City I would gladly have hastened on at once, since there is nothing further for me to do here. Apart from the Methodists and some Albrechtsleute, the remaining Protestant Germans belong to an evangelical congregation, which is at present served by a brother of the evangelical preacher Ries in St. Louis. We do not wish to proceed in a sneaking, interloping manner, and so I refrained in Bloomington from any further missionizing.

This afternoon a boat is still expected. I look for it all the more eagerly, since the four weeks' leave given me by my congregations has already run out by a considerable margin. The Lord be with you and grant faith and joyfulness, love and wisdom

To your

Lochner.

Burlington, Iowa, the 28th of Nov.

Dear W.!

I had scarcely finished my letter to you for half an hour and sighed anew to the Lord to help me to a speedy continuation of my journey, when I noticed clouds of steam rising in the distance and soon saw a little steamboat coming down the river. After so long a wait this boat was a joyful sight to me, although its dirty, slovenly appearance outwardly and still more inwardly had nothing at all inviting about it, and I hurried to it with bag and baggage as soon as it landed. I will not tell you further here of the great uncleanliness that prevailed in every respect on this vessel, and of the extraordinary rudeness of the captain and his clerk, and of the lovely night which I had to spend with a number of passengers sitting on a chair, since in the berths of the cabin there was nothing but the bare boards — enough, I longed just as much to get off this boat again as I had previously wished to be able to depart with it from Bloomington.

After I had arrived the next morning in Burlington and had put down my baggage in the nearest inn at hand, I betook myself to a German watchmaker from Gera, to whom his countryman in Bloomington, already mentioned, had recommended me. Unfortunately I had, without knowing it, fallen in with a freethinker; nevertheless the man refrained from mocking at religious things and at last even offered to conduct me to several Lutherans who were interested in church affairs. Through him I became acquainted chiefly with a man from the neighborhood of Nürnberg, who keeps a store here, who by reason of his business is in constant intercourse with the other Lutherans in B., and who has always occupied himself with congregational affairs. He was not a little glad when he heard that I was from Nürnberg, and still more that I was a servant of the Lutheran church. On my inquiry I learned from him that there is here an "evangelical congregation," which was formerly served by a Pastor Rieger and now has as preacher a pupil of the Hamburg Rauhes Haus by the name of Eppens; but that he has only a small flock, since many Lutherans and Reformed no longer wished to have anything to do with him. When I asked the reason, there was named to me by him partly the domineering conduct of Mr. E., partly his Methodistic character in doctrine and practice, whereby he has already delivered several members of his congregation into the hands of the Methodists. While I was conversing with this man, several more people came up, who all confirmed his statements about Mr. E. and unanimously requested me to preach. A preacher, who knows well that no one is more shamefully lied about than the bearers of the holy office, does not take everything for good coin that he hears said to the disadvantage even of those preachers who are not at one with him in faith, and so I considered it best to speak with Mr. E. freely and openly, the more so since one of his elders, who had likewise come up, urged me to do so. Unhappily it turned out to be true, what I had heard of the violent, inconsiderate character of Mr. E. When I showed him the letter of recommendation given me by the Synod, he remarked that any vagabond could issue such a thing to himself, and without my having so much as asked him with a single word for the use of his church, he forbade me to preach in it and remarked scornfully that to the others who did not belong to his congregation I might preach, according to the freedom of this country, whenever and wherever I pleased. I had not come to quarrel with the man, but to convince myself of the truth or untruth