# Der Lutheraner_St. Louis Missouri_1849 11 13_S43
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

43

mony of the truth or a refutation of error;

3. a decided steadfastness also to preserve the noble jewel of pure doctrine, and to abide in that which is committed to them, joined with an honest hatred and abhorrence of all church-mixing and unionism, contrary to Scripture and pandering to men, of the present and the future;

4. a quiet, steadfast, godly walk before and in the LORD, consisting in a simple exercise of faith through love, a sound manifestation of all manner of fruit of the Spirit, and especially in a God-given composure and patience in all manner of cross and tribulation — in sum: an upright being in Christ JESUS, and not merely the confession, but also the following after of the LORD Christ.

And although, according to God's Word and the course of history, it is not conceivable that this manly, living, honest Bible Christianity in heart, understanding and will should seize all our church children and dwell and rule in them; rather, although it is much to be feared that perhaps the greatest part will remain dead lip-Christians or morbid Christians of mere feeling, yes, that besides, perhaps, open apostasy from Christianity will break in also among us and unbelief increase, nevertheless it will hopefully nowhere, where in the aforesaid manner the Small Lutheran Catechism is also pursued, fail to have a kernel of living Bible Christians and sound church children.

(To be continued.)

(Submitted.)

Heathen Mission.

Surely the readers of the Lutheraner will have greeted with joy the communication made in No. 26 of the 5th volume, that the stations Frankenmut and Bethany have been transferred by their founders to our Synod, and that the station Siboying has also been added. In truth a joyful piece of news, which must rouse us to hearty thanks toward the gracious God. Our Synod now possesses among the Indians of Michigan three stations, on which the missionaries proclaim the Word of God to the heathen, and through whose service already a small number of Indians have been converted and baptized. May the LORD bless their service also in the future, and add daily to the congregation such as shall be saved.

It is now in any case the nearest duty and task of our Synod to be a faithful and wise nurse to those stations. Thereby, however, the necessity is by no means laid upon us that we lose Oregon wholly from view; rather must we also hereafter keep our eye directed upon the West of our country, whither so many pointings of the finger still constantly direct us, so that we may be ready, when the LORD makes a way for us thither and opens a door for us there, to follow His call. This consideration, however, must by no means hinder us from turning our most hearty zeal of love to the stations in Michigan. In that God delivers the same to us, He commands us at the same time to do all that is in our power to promote their prosperity. And we may indeed hope only then that God will deem us worthy to contribute in other and wider circles to the spreading of His kingdom, when we have proved ourselves faithful in the field now assigned to us, not only in great things, but also in small.

But when we look at the great difficulties with which the mission among the Indians has to contend, we must confess that, besides the prosperity which God gives, only a fiery zeal and an untiring patience are able to overcome them. The Indians are no civilized people, but stand on the lowest step of civilization, if one may speak of civilization among them at all. They have for the most part no fixed dwelling-places, but wander restlessly about, pitching their huts now here, now there, according as the hunting or the fishing, on which they live, requires. Their language is so difficult that the learning of it is possible only at the greatest sacrifices of time and pains, for which reason the missionaries are still compelled to take interpreters into their service, who are, however, not always a sure means of communication. From the whites they have for long years had to suffer all kinds of oppression and fraud; by them they have been driven out of their fatherland, by them they will perhaps soon be pushed farther toward the West. By them they have been seduced to the vices of the cultivated nations; through their guilt it has come about that even the last remnant of outwardly respectable discipline and custom which still was found among them has now vanished. From them they learned the Christian religion mostly only in its degeneration and deformity, so that they are now prejudiced and embittered also against the pure doctrine of the Gospel. Besides, they cling to their heathen superstition with such fearful tenacity that they seem to have grown wholly together with it, a plain proof that it is the devil who holds them so fast captive and bound with his cords.

Thus the strong man armed has thrown up mighty bulwarks on all sides to keep his palace; but our comfort is that it is written: "For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil," 1 John 3:8. The Son of God has shed His blood for the heathen also, for the remission of sins, for "he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world," 1 John 2:2. And He wills also that they shall be saved; for "God will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth," 1 Tim. 2:4. To this end He has given His Church the Gospel, and commanded it to preach the same to all nations: "for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth," Rom. 1:16. Faith in the Gospel is accordingly for all men the only way to salvation: "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned," Mark 16:16. Therefore it is all lie and error that the enthusiasts say of a salvation of the heathen, which they are to obtain without the preaching of the Gospel, without the use of the sacraments ordained by God, and without faith in the LORD JESUS. It is also clear how with this error a true missionary zeal cannot possibly exist. For if the heathen, as the enthusiasts dream, are saved without the use of the means of grace, why then burden them still with these things?

There will, however, always be something sickly and feeble about our missionary zeal, and remain so, as long as we do not let ourselves be stirred to it by God's Word and command, but wish to call it forth by other grounds, or to base it upon something lying within ourselves. This has not seldom been tried; the bodily and spiritual misery of the heathen, which is indeed terrible enough, has been portrayed so gripping and so touchingly that thereby the hearts of many Christians were moved to compassion and to living participation in the cause of missions. Or one sought to rouse oneself and others to missionary zeal by the prospect of success, holding before oneself how the heathen by the introduction of Christianity would attain in every respect to a happier existence. But although all this was done with good intention and may have its great use, a Christian will nevertheless not be able to content himself with it. He will ask: what does God's Word say about it? Does God command me to take up the cause of missions, and in what manner? And when he has then convinced himself by the bright, clear sayings of Holy Scripture that God in His Word indeed earnestly commands him to co-operate in the spreading of His kingdom on earth, then the mission affair becomes to him a holy and precious matter of conscience, to which he devotes his heartiest sympathy to his last breath.

A clear, plain command of Christ that we should zealously promote the cause of missions we have in all those passages in which He commands His Church to proclaim His Word to the world: "Teach all nations," Matt. 28:19. "Preach the gospel to every creature," Mark 16:15. Accordingly, participation in the mission is not something that we can do or leave undone at pleasure. But in that the LORD gives this command to His whole Church, He thereby binds also every single member of it to contribute faithfully, according to his gifts and powers, that the Word of God be preached to all nations. Above all things the LORD wills that we pray diligently for the mission. Therefore He writes to us Himself in the holy Lord's Prayer three