# LCMS Convention Proceedings_St. Louis Missouri_1860_S69
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

— Page 69 —

The foregoing mission report gave rise to a lengthy and lively
debate, which turned essentially on the further "to be or not to be"
of our Indian mission. On one side, attention was drawn to the
Indians' dreadful moral corruption, showing itself especially in the
vices of drunkenness and fornication; to their unparalleled
indifference to the Gospel; to years of fruitless labor at great
expense; and to the discouragement of our missionaries, which shows
itself repeatedly in their reports, among other points. In view of
all these discouraging facts, which also come to light in the
mission report just heard, the question was raised whether it would
not be better to give up the Indian mission altogether — or at least
to let the Minnesota station lapse, as the most hopeless of the two —
and to use the large sums spent on it instead for missionary work,
through traveling preachers, among our own scattered, pastorless
fellow believers. — Against this, however, the most earnest protest
was raised from the other side. It was said: the moral degradation of
the Indians must not lead us astray from the work God has commanded
us; for that shame and vice prevail among them cannot surprise us,
since they lie in heathen blindness and darkness. Nor may their
indifference to the word of God drive us away from them; rather, we
must persevere with them as long as they will hear and tolerate us,
and only when they no longer wish even that must we, to be sure,
shake the dust from our feet. But if we wanted to give them up simply
because we see little or no fruit, we could with equal justice give
up many of our German congregations as well. We did not undertake
this mission, after all, because we hoped for great fruit, but
because God commanded it; if he now lets us see little or no fruit,
that is no sign that we labor in vain, but rather he is testing our
faith, whether we are willing joyfully, in hope resting on his
command and his promise, to scatter the seed of the word. We should
think of examples such as that of Hans Egede, who likewise had to
have patience for many years, but whose work was at last crowned with
the most glorious success; or of a Norwegian mission in Africa, where
it was only after fifteen years of labor that the first heathen could
be baptized. As for our missionaries, they will gain more courage and
cheerfulness once we ourselves all have more courage of faith and
pray more diligently for them and their work. And as for the large
sums our mission costs us, that is not to be weighed at all when we
consider how much we accomplish if, through our labor, even a single
Indian soul is saved — a soul that would not flow in so richly even
toward other purposes. Therefore, rather than letting ourselves grow
weary through this apparent lack of success, let us instead take
courage and continue our mission with renewed zeal — all the more
since God has at last allowed missionary Miessler to learn the
Chippewa language well enough that he can preach in it, which is
indeed a gift given us by God that we must put to use. Let us, then,
be grateful to our Mission Commission for giving us such unvarnished,
truthful reports, and let us likewise thank God that he has given us
so honest a Mission Commission.