# LCMS Convention Proceedings_St. Louis Missouri_1857_S363
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

— 363 —

...this time we cannot speak of any progress at all. Beyond the few
who had partaken of Communion at that time, no more asked for it
afterward, nor did even those few come again to partake a second
time. The school, too, was attended anything but diligently.

From all this we have so far seen, with great sorrow, how little the
love of the holy Gospel has taken firm root among the members of the
Bethany congregation, and under what discouraging conditions the
missionary Mießler has had to work. And he has, besides, stood alone
among them so far, for more than two years ago his former colleague
[College] Röder took a pastoral charge in Canada, and from that time
the care of the whole mission lay on the shoulders of one man alone.
The more lukewarm the Indians showed themselves toward the Word of
God, the more their concern for worldly things and their striving
after prosperity in the American manner awoke in them, and an offer
from the Indian government [Indianer-Gouvernement] fanned this
striving still further. This offer consisted in inviting all the
Indians of Michigan to move into a single county, called Isabella, in
which each head of family would be granted, free of charge, about 80
acres of good land along with other means of subsistence, should they
settle there. The Bethany Indians were made quite enthusiastic about
this offer, especially by the Methodists, who took particular pains to
lure their fellow tribesmen away on this occasion — not only from
Bethany, but from the Lutheran congregation as well. Now, while it
might, in general, not be held against the Indians that they showed a
desire to be given 80 acres of land along with other benefits, the
peculiar situation of the Bethany mission nonetheless weighed heavily
on the heart of the missionary Mießler, as well as on the Mission
Commission, since we recognized how little gratitude toward God for
the gift of his Gospel could be perceived among the Indians, in that
they were ready to change their place of residence without even
asking whether their missionary would move along with them. We
remonstrated with them about this and exhorted them to a grateful
acknowledgment of what God had done for them in Bethany, both
spiritually and materially. Although each of them in Bethany had, by
the Synod's provision, only about 30 acres of good farmland at their
disposal, this too, we told them, was a fine possession on which they
could live peaceably with their families; but should they nonetheless
hold that they would be better off possessing and moving to 80 acres
in another place, then their foremost concern should above all be
that the preaching of the Gospel not be taken from them.

In this time of greatest discouragement — to which "Der Lutheraner"
(at the end of last year's volume) also bears witness — the president
[Präſes] of the general Synod came to Michigan and, together with the
undersigned and Pastor Auch, visited the Bethany station. He saw with
us the complete collapse of the Bethany mission staring us in the
face, should the congregation continue in its frivolity and disregard
for preaching. He recognized with a clear eye all the faults, on
whichever side they might lie. Above all, through his encouragement he
was able to hearten the missionary Mießler anew, to have him set aside
all faintheartedness and take up the mission work again with fresh
strength among old and young alike — and, in particular, to attribute
the Indians' conduct so far not to malice, but to inexperience and
thoughtlessness. Thus