# Lehre und Wehre_St. Louis Missouri_August 1863_S250
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

250 Church and Contemporary History.

of a weak soul, and earns only mockery and contempt from the sensible portion of the English community. Churches of English extraction know how to value the worth of the German element in our land, and make the strongest efforts to bring it under their influence through missions and mission schools. Among Episcopalians, Presbyterians, Methodists, and Baptists a German proselyte is regarded as a valuable acquisition. Some of the pillars of these churches are descendants of Germans and proud of their origin. The importance of securing the descendants of German Lutherans for our English congregations forces itself powerfully upon our souls when we examine the material of which the American-Lutheran Church is composed. If we subtract from our congregations those of German extraction, only a few remain. For example: take any one of our English-Lutheran congregations, and you will find that a very large majority of its members descend from Germans, either in the male or the female line, and that their connection with our Church traces back to this fact. They make up about four-fifths of our numerical strength. As incidental proof of this remark, let it serve that, on examining one of the weekly subscriber lists of the Observer, I found that fully two-thirds of the names were German. Without doubt half of the rest were also of German descent in the female line. In most places our increase from the purely English portion of the community is, in this one respect, mostly a matter of chance. Sometimes it comes from marriage, or from the absence of the particular church to which people belonged, but only seldom from a choice uninfluenced by such considerations. If this account is correct — and we think that inquiry will confirm it — then it is clear that the English-Lutheran Church will grow exactly in the proportion that we succeed in exerting influence upon the German element with which God has surrounded us in his providence, and in drawing it to ourselves. It has been the source of our growth in the past and will be so also in the future." — Surely an acknowledging admission, to be held the more sincere the harder such a thing is for proud Americans to make. But if the English think they must take such great pains to win the German element for their Church, how much more should we Germans apply the utmost diligence to keep it for ourselves and our Church! God would spur us on to zeal; let us not be sluggish and idle! — C.

Iowa Synod. In its "Kirchenblatt" is found a history of its seminary in Dubuque. Mr. Großmann concludes this history in the July number with the final verdict: "The Lord holds this little plant dear to his hand, dear to his heart." To found this on repeated help out of various predicaments, or generally on external successes, is exceedingly foolish; that God holds an institution for training preachers of the Gospel as a "little plant dear to his hand, dear to his heart" can be concluded with certainty solely from the fact that the students trained there are equipped to proclaim the Word of God unadulterated, without any admixture of human doctrines, daydreams, and enthusiasms. Without this mark it is most presumptuous to regard such an institution as God's darling and to trumpet it abroad.

The "Fröhliche Botschafter" [Joyful Messenger], organ of the United Brethren in Christ, recently carried a submitted article that struck many of these "Brethren" as not Christian, and gave offense. On this the editor remarks in the number of July 9: "Where so little original material is received for a paper, as is the case with us, one does not take it so precisely. Were it possible, we would gladly avoid everything that might be distasteful to our readers. But when one part wants broth while the other demands solid fare, yet neither will eat from the same dish, then we sometimes find ourselves in straits, and when our best and most diligent correspondents cannot please the readers, we shall soon have to take refuge entirely in the shears." There is also another refuge. We need only recall the Mennonite editor in the July number of this paper, pp. 220, 221.