# Der Lutheraner_St. Louis Missouri_1850 01 08_S73
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

Der Lutheraner.

—

"God's Word and Luther's teaching shall not pass away, now or ever."

Published by the German Evangelical Lutheran Synod of Missouri, Ohio, and Other States.

Edited by C. F. W. Walther.

Volume 6.

St. Louis, Mo., January 8, 1850.

No. 10.

Terms: Der Lutheraner appears once every two weeks, at the annual subscription price of one dollar for out-of-town subscribers, who are to pay it in advance and bear the postage. — In St. Louis every single copy is sold for 5 cents.

Only letters containing communications for the paper are to be sent to the editor; all others, however — containing business matters, orders, cancellations, remittances of money, etc. — are to be sent here under the address: Mr. F. W. Barthel, care of C. F. W. Walther, St. Louis, Mo.

Cry for Help of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Prussia to Germany, Related in the Faith.

(Conclusion.)

But in order that you may recognize our distress also in particular, allow us to present to you, in a few strokes, by way of example, the situation of some of the most hard-pressed among our congregations.

The congregation of Breslau, numbering about 1,100 souls, found itself compelled in the year 1843, if it wished to celebrate its worship services with dignity and undisturbed, to purchase the former St. Katharine's Church. The purchase price amounted to 28,000 thalers; for completion of the building a further 4,000 thalers were needed. Almost the whole sum had to be borrowed, and the interest had to be raised annually by the congregation. This was made possible for it only because it rented out the basement of the church as a wine cellar. Under the depressed economic conditions of the time, this rent will be reduced, beginning New Year 1849, by 125 thalers — a sum that must then also be raised by the congregation, even though the interest hitherto could scarcely be managed. Church contributions in this congregation average 3 thalers per head. — The congregation at Berlin, consisting of 1,100 souls, has hitherto had to raise, apart from the pastor's salary, 1,340 thalers, partly for the school, partly for church rent and other church needs, partly for its poor, so that more than 2 thalers per head are required. Yet it contains no truly wealthy member. Only a few are moderately well-off; the majority are poor. The distress has grown so much since the events of March, especially among the tradesmen, that raising the money needed to maintain church and school appears almost impossible for the near future. — The parish district of Stettin comprises, across three government districts, 11 preaching stations with 1,500 Lutherans, who live scattered in 80 localities and consist two-thirds of poor colonists, day-laborers, widows, and journeymen. All of these have hitherto, especially because many among them have been impoverished by the oppression they previously endured, scarcely been able to raise the 300 thalers needed for the pastor's salary. Suitable church premises are lacking almost everywhere, as are schools, and the workload is too great for the shoulders of one pastor. — The Lutheran congregation in the city of Magdeburg — a city whose name has, from of old, had a good ring in the Lutheran church, which fought manfully three hundred years ago against the unionistic Interim and was therefore also then accustomed to be called "our Lord God's chancery," and which is, in a sense, the birthplace of the deepest and richest confessional writing of our church, the Formula of Concord — this congregation now numbers 165 souls, who alone are to raise 350 thalers as their share toward the pastor's salary and rent, an unaffordable sum given the great poverty of its members. Considerable support had been held out in prospect for this congregation from the Kingdom of Saxony, whereupon it resolved to call its own pastor; but under the conditions that have since arisen, this prospect has come to nothing. Only 60 thalers has it once received from there, and it does not know how it is to meet the obligations it has entered into for the future. — The congregation at Liegnitz consists of 540 members, who must annually raise 600 thalers for the pastor's salary, for interest on debts arising from a necessary church building, for school purposes, and other things — sums which, given the poverty of the congregation, could not have been raised heretofore either, had the Lord not often provided help wonderfully and suddenly. — The congregation of Bunzlau numbers 7 preaching stations with 457 souls, who live so scattered that three pastors, not just one, would find enough to do here. The congregation consists for the most part of day-laborers, poor weavers, and glass-grinders, who suffered especially through distraints in the years of persecution, incurred debts in the recent time of dearth, and whose trade stands almost entirely still in this unsettled time. They have therefore been able to raise, for their pastor — especially since, given the scattered location of the congregation, church service is bound up with great travel costs*) — only 130 thalers; the missing 170 thalers are to be supplied to him from the general church treasury in Breslau, and this too is likewise exhausted. — The congregation of Thorn has, with 1,100 members, apart from the pastor's salary, still to raise the interest on 3,000 thalers and 150 thalers for its school. — The congregation of Militsch, consisting of 520 souls, has, apart from the pastor's salary, still to defray 230 thalers in interest, so that about 1 thaler per head is required — an excessive expense for a congregation consisting mostly of cottagers. — Likewise in the congregation of Fraustadt the necessary contributions per soul amount to 1 thaler 11 silver groschen, which is unsustainable in the long run without outside help. — The parish district of Freistadt numbers six congregations, scattered over an area whose diameter is 12 miles, and yet in this area are found only 580 Lutherans. They have to raise 360 thalers for their various church needs, of which only 200 thalers are for the pastor, who is referred to the general church treasury for the remainder of his salary. This congregation, too, belongs to those who bear on their body the marks of Jesus from the time of persecution. — The parish district of Ubedel in Farther Pomerania numbers 526 souls, who live scattered in 58 localities within an area 19 miles in diameter, and are so destitute that they cannot even raise the salary fixed at 200 thalers for an unmarried pastor, and here too the general church treasury must step in. — The parish district of Ratibor numbers 272 souls, scattered across seven different administrative districts. Because this congregation is too far from Schwirz,

*) One of our pastors once had to spend 119 thalers in a single year on such necessary travel costs.