Part I, Chapter I — The First Foreign Mission Effort in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
In the earlier history of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America two dates, a century apart, are especially note- worthy. The one, 1742, designates the year of the landing of the patriarch of our American Church, Henry Melchior Muhlenberg, on the shore of this western hemisphere; the other, 1842, marks the beginning of our Church's foreign mission in India by the first American Lutheran foreign mis- sionary, John Christian Frederick Heyer. In the wonderful providence of God the original desire of Muhlenberg to preach the Gospel to the heathen in India was eventually fulfilled, one hundred years afterward, through the instrumentality of the Church which he organized in the United States; and the field which Heyer selected and which has been cultivated ever since by our Church, lies not many hundred miles northeast of the place where Muhlenberg would have landed and labored, had he followed, as he first intended, in the wake of Ziegen- balg and Pluetschau.
During the century from Muhlenberg to Heyer the Lutheran Church in the United States was called upon to devote herself primarily to the task of gathering into organized congrega- tions those of her communion who immigrated by hundreds of thousands into the United States. The work of her self-preservation rather than that of her extension to other lands demanded the first attention and the full vigor of our Church during the last half of the eighteenth and the first half of the nineteenth century. Even after she began to do foreign
12 AMERICAN EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN MISSIONS IN INDLA mission work, so much of her energy was needed for the work of home missions that, up to the beginning of the twen- tieth century, she was obUged to expend the greater part of her strength and resources in the absorbing effort of caring for those of her own household of faith, first of all in the mother-tongue of the immigrants as they arrived, and then, after the second or third generation, in the English language. Now that immigration from Lutheran countries is on the wane and the home mission facilities of our Church are more numerous and efficient, a notable increase of foreign mission spirit and activity is discernible.
During the early decades of the nineteenth century the activities of the Lutheran Church in North America were, for the greater part, confined to two bodies, namely, the Ministerium of Pennsylvania and the General Synod. The latter was called into existence mainly through the effort of the Ministerium at Frederick, Maryland, in 182 1. The Ministerium, however, withdrew from the General Synod shortly after its organization. These two bodies, aljnost equal in numerical strength, continued to exist side by side and to engage in similar or nearly similar lines of work, until they reunited in 1853. In 1866 they again separated. During the first period of their separate existence (1823-53) their relations seem to have been amicable. To this period we trace the beginning of our American Lutheran Mission in India, in which both bodies, under a peculiar form of agreement, co- operated for a number of years.
Year by year as Lutheran immigration continued and the territory of the Church's operations extended westward in fine with the territorial expansion of the Union, the increas- ing responsibility of the organized bodies in the East to sup- ply, as best they could, the destitute portions of the Church on the western frontiers with, at least, the occasional admin- istration of the means of grace, forcibly impressed itself upon these bodies and developed within them not only a growing home mission activity but also a sincere purpose to carry the Gospel to the heathen.
To the General Synod belongs the credit of having made
3 FIRST FOREIGN MISSION EFFORT IN LUTHERAN CHURCH 1 the first united effort in our Lutheran Church in behalf of foreign mission work.
Previous to the year 1833, individuals and congregations in various Lutheran Synods sent occasional contributions to the "American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Mis- sions." Indeed, the first organized effort of the General Synod was intended to be in co-operation with that Board; but in 1833, at the meeting of the General Synod in Baltimore, Maryland, a special committee was appointed, charged with the duty of formulating a plan for more energetic and extensive mission activity. Meeting in York, Pa., in 1835, this committee urged the necessity, importance and value of both home and foreign mission work and concluded with a strong appeal for united endeavor in behalf of for- eign missions. Its report led to the adoption of resolutions looking to the organization of a missionary society. The first resolution recommended the holding of a missionary meeting at Mechanicsburg, Pa., in connection with the convention of the West Pennsylvania Synod, in October, 1835. The second and third resolutions, which were intended as inspirational, referred to the labors of Guetzlaff, a German missionary in China. The fourth resolution recommended to all Lutheran Synods "to give, at their ensuing meetings, an expression of their sentiment and feeling respecting the establishment of a foreign mission by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in the United States."
The missionary meeting was held, as arranged, in Mechan- icsburg and resulted in the formation of "The Central Mis- sionary Society." Its object, as expressed in its constitu- tion, was "to send the Gospel of the Son of God to the desti- tute portions of the Lutheran Church in the United States, to assist, for a season, such congregations as are unable to support the Gospel, and ultimately to co-operate in sending it to the heathen world." The Rev. C. F. Heyer was chosen as the society's first missionary. He was called to engage in mission work for a period of five years, his compensation to be five hundred dollars a year. He was directed to devote himself primarily to the work of a home missionary, but also
14 AMERICAN EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN MISSIONS IN INDIA to hold himself in readiness to be sent out as a foreign mis- sionary when the need arose and the necessary arrangements could be made. The organization of ''The Central Missionary Society" induced the Pennsylvania Ministerium also to form a synod- ical missionary society. On Wednesday evening, June i, 1836, the evening before the annual convention of the Ministerium, at Easton, Pa., a number of clerical and lay delegates met and organized "The Society of the Synod of Pennsylvania for the Propagation of the Gospel," electing as its first officers : the Rev. Wm. Beates, president; the Rev. J. P. Hecht, vice-president; the Rev. C. Miller, recording secretary; the Rev. F. Ruthrauff, corresponding secretary, and Mr. C. J. Hutter, treasurer.^ During the first year of its existence no effort was made by the society to do foreign mission work; but at its second meeting in Lancaster, Pa., May, 1837, the executive com- mittee was authorized and instructed to spend $150 for the spread of the Gospel among the heathen. Moreover, three members of the society^ were appointed delegates to the con- vention of Lutherans called to meet at Hagerstown, Md., in connection with the meeting of the General Synod during the closing week of May, 1837, and to determine what course should be pursued in response to appeals for financial aid, ad- dressed to all Germans in America by Guetzlaff in China and by Rhenius in India. The appeal of the latter, especially, had ' Twelve directors were elected, namely, the Revs. J. C. Baker, D. D., C. R. Demme, D. D., J. Medtart, G. W. Mertz, E. Peixotto, M. Keller and S. J. Brobst, candidate J. Sahm and Messrs. F. Wm. Heckel, Chr. Strack, Fr. Erhard and Chr. Haeger. A committee consisting of the Revs. Keller, Ruthrauff and Medtart and Messrs. Hutter and Heckel formulated a constitution, an abstract of which is here given: Article I. Name. Article II defines the purpose of the society to be the employment of a missionary to travel through the country and organize congregations, and "as soon as possible to send the Gospel to the heathen." Article III fixes the time of meeting to be in connection with the annual convention of the Synod. Article IV determines the fees, namely, one dollar a year for active membership, ten dollars for life-membership and twenty-five dollars for life-directorship. Article V regulates the election of officers and of a board of twelve directors. Article VI creates an executive committee consisting of the officers and three others elected by the board of directors. Article VII specifies that the members of the executive committee shall live in as nearly contiguous localities as possible. Articles VIII to XII deal with matters of government, auxiliary societies and amendments.
2 The Revs. C. W. Schacffer, J. Medtart and Mr. F. Wm. Heckel.
5 FIRST FOREIGN MISSION EFFORT IN LUTHERAN CHURCH 1 created a profound impression throughout the Church. The conviction was general that Rhenius should be supported in his independent mission work and that his appeal had set the time for action by the American Lutheran Church in behalf of foreign missions. It was felt ''that indifference to the leadings of Providence was sinful and that God would have the Church engage in the work of foreign missions." Those who responded to the appeal of Rhenius in his effort to inter- est the Germans in America in his independent Tinnevelly Mission could scarcely have realized at that time that his ap- peal and their response actually determined, then and there, that India should be the field for the foreign mission work of the Lutheran Church in America.
Considerable enthusiasm for foreign missions was manifested at the Hagerstown meeting of the General Synod and was carried over into the missionary meeting, which aimed at the organization of all Germans in America, to whom Rhenius had indiscriminately appealed, into one foreign missionary society. As a consequence the new society, organized May 30, 1837, was called ''The German Foreign Missionary Society." Steps were taken to extend immediate aid to Rhenius. Three hundred dollars were appropriated to be sent at once; and two semi-annual payments of a thousand dollars each were promised. Furthermore, the Rev. Charles Philip Krauth, D. D., was requested to write and ask Rhe- nius if "he would be willing to be employed as the missionary of the society to labor among the Tamils in India." The enthusiasm of the Hagerstown meeting spread. "Money poured into the treasury of the new society and funds were speedily forwarded to India."
Although the delegates of the Missionary Society of the Pennsylvania Ministerium took part in the organization of "The German Foreign Missionary Society," the former society decided to continue its separate existence. At its third annual meeting^ held June 12, 1838, in Philadelphia, ^ At this meeting besides nine auxiliary congregational missionary societies, one "female missionary society" was reported, namely, that of St. Michael's Church in Germantown, Pa., the Rev. J. W. Richards, pastor. This was, therefore, the first women's missionary society in the Pennsylvania Synod.
1 6 AMERICAN EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN MISSIONS IN INDLA $500^ were ordered to be sent to Rhenius in Palamcotta, This sum, together with $250 contributed by St. John's English Church in Philadelphia, was remitted in December, 1838. For a while the foreign mission cause overshadowed every other interest and the enthusiasm was still at its height, when at the fourth annual meeting of the society of the Pennsylvania Ministerium, held in Allentown, May 29, 1839, in a letter addressed to Rev. Fr. Schmidt, secretary, who had succeeded Rev. F. Ruthrauff in that office, news was received of the death of Rhenius in Palamcotta, June 5, 1836, and of the return of his colleague to the service of the Church Mis- sionary Society. At once the zeal of the society began to abate. The Executive Committee^ was instructed to with- hold further support until more definite knowledge con- cerning affairs in Palamcotta had been received.^
The confirmation of the news of the death of Rhenius and of the return of his son-in-law, Mueller, and his associates, to the Church Missionary Society, hastened the estabhshment of a separate American Lutheran foreign mission. The initial steps toward this end were taken by the German Foreign Missionary Society in Chambersburg, June 4, 1839, when it was resolved "to send forth missionaries into the field, either to co-operate with the Palamcotta mission or to form an independent station, as the Executive Committee might find most expedient."
The Executive Committee of The German Foreign Mission- ary Society,'* whose attention had been called to the Rev. C. F. Heyer, then a home-missionary of the West Pennsylvania Synod at work in Pittsburg, as the most suitable person to be appointed as the society's foreign missionary, instructed its 1 The receipts of the society during the current year were $77S.i4K; the expenditures, $368.i9>^. 2 At this meeting the executive committee was constituted as follows: The Revs. Beates, Baker, S. Sprecher, H. S. Miller, J. Haesbaert, G. A. Reichert, and Messrs. E. Haeger and J. F. Heinitsch.
'The total receipts of the society during the year were $1287.05; the expenditures, $962.72.
<The members of the committee were: The Rev. Prof. S. S. Schmucker, D. D., the Rev. Prof. H. L. Baugher, the Rev. J. N. Hoffmann, Dr. D. Gil- bert, Mr. Isaac Baugher, treasurer, and the Rev. Prof. Charles Philip Krauth D. D., corresponding secretary.
7 FIRST FOREIGN MISSION EFFORT IN LUTHERAN CHURCH 1 corresponding secretary, the Rev. Prof. Charles Philip Krauth, D. D., some time during the spring of 1840, to write to Heyer asking him if he would consider a call to become a foreign missionary and requesting his opinion "as to the place where a mission might advantageously be commenced, whether in the far West among the aborigines of America or in the far East among the Hindus." Heyer replied as follows : "I have no particular choice but would be willing to go wheresoever the Lord may direct, even to New Zealand, where missionaries have lately been slain and devoured by the savages. How- ever, it appears to me that the Coromandel coast, perhaps in the Tinnevelly district, where Mr. Mueller, Rhenius' son-in- law, is now standing alone, would be the most suitable place to commence. If we undertake to establish a mission among our Indians, we should, probably, have to go across the Rocky Mountains to a place perhaps as difi&cult of access as the peninsula of Hindustan. Moreover, our Indians are of a roving disposition, and hence it is ver^^ difficult to get hold of them or make an impression on them. There exists, also, a certain kind of prejudice among many of our people against the Indians, which would render them unwilling to do as much for a mission among the Indians in America as for an undertaking of this kind among the Hindus. But I am willing to abide by the decision of the Executive Committee."
After some further correspondence the committee called Heyer in May, 1840. He accepted the call. Then the American Board of Commissioners was consulted with regard to a suitable field in India, and on their recommendation the Telugu country was selected. Meanwhile the time had ar- rived for the biennial meeting of the General Synod and, in connection therewith, of The German Foreign Missionary Society. The society met on Tuesday, May 11, 1841, in Baltimore, Md. Having realized by this time that the cooperation of all Germans in America was impracticable, an amendment to the constitution was proposed at this meet- ing changing the society's name to that of "The Foreign Missionary Society of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in the United States." After the report of the Executive Com-
1 8 AMERICAN EVANGELICAL LUTHEEAN MISSIONS IN INDIA mittee had been read, it was unanimously resolved to approve of the steps taken in the appointment of the Rev. C. F. Heyer as a foreign missionary, to communicate this appointment to the Pennsylvania and Ohio synods and to request their co-operation. A committee' appointed to recommend a plan of co-operation with the American Board in the case of the proposed Telugu mission, submitted the following report
"The Evangelical Lutheran Foreign Missionary Society, desirous of avail" ing themselves of the facilities afforded by the American Board of Commis- sioners for Foreign Missions to the churches that have united with it in the work of foreign missions and also deeming it important that the efforts of the friends of this cause in this country should be more fully concentrated, propose to form a connection with said board upon the following general principles: (i) The connection of our missionaries with the American Board shall in no degree affect their ecclesiastical relations and responsibilities. (2) When desired by our society, the American Board is to organize the missionaries furnished by us into a mission by themselves to be under their direction; and should the con- nection of the Board of Missions of the Lutheran Church with the American Board be at any time dissolved, the direction of this mission shall then, as a matter of course, be transferred to the Lutheran Board. (3) The Lutheran Board shall have the nomination of their missionaries, but the American Board may confirm the nomination. (4) The Lutheran Board shall have the management of all the agencies for collecting funds, etc., within the bounds of the denomination, and also the charge of fostering a missionary spirit in the churches and in their candidates for the ministry. (5) All the pecuniary responsibilities of the missionaries excepting when acting as agents under the direction of the Lutheran Board, shall be wholly under the American Board. (6) The receipts of the Lutheran Board after defraying the e.xpenses of agencies etc., shall be paid into the treasury of the American Board. Whenever the amount paid into the treasury of the American Board shall exceed the sum required for the support of the missionaries furnished by the Lutheran Board, for the current year, the American Board may apply the surplus to the support of other missionaries in their employment. And should the funds furnished by the Lutheran Board at any time be inadequate to the support of the missionaries furnished by said Board, it is expected that the American Board will afford us aid, if they have a surplus of funds. (7) When missionaries are about to embark a missionary meeting shall, if possible, be held in some Lutheran Church, at which the instructions shall be given by the American Board and the charge be delivered by the Lutheran Board; and the missionaries, when in the field, shall also maintain a regular correspondence with the Lutheran Board."
' The committee consisted of the Revs. Dr. G. A. Lintner, Dr. S. S. Schmuck- er, Dr. C. P. Krauth, Henry N. Pohlman and J. Berger.
9 FIRST FOREIGN MISSION EFFORT IN LUTHERAN CHURCH 1
Upon the adoption of this arrangement with the Ameri- can Board, which was very distasteful to Heyer, he resigned his appointmeat by the General Synod's society. That there were at least some who sided with Heyer and opposed afhlia- tion with the American Board, is evident from the fact that an amendment to the constitution was at once proposed, striking out Article 12, which bound the General Synod's society to co-operation with that Board.
About a month elapsed between the meetings of the General Synod and of the Pennsylvania Ministerium in 1841. It ap- pears that the latter 's missionary society had continued to send support to Mueller in Tinnevelly,^ but at this meeting, held June 5, 1841, in Harrisburg, Pa., it decided that "whereas said society (C. M. S.) had sufficient means to maintain the mission under Brother Mueller, this society will give it no more support but will look elsewhere in order to propagate the Gospel among the heathen."
At this crucial moment on the afternoon of Saturday, June 5 th, a letter written by Heyer two days previously was read to the society by the Rev. Dr. Demme, its correspond- ing secretary. The part which this important letter played in the history of our foreign mission work justifies its quota- tion in full:
Baltimore, June 3, 1841. Dear Brethren:
I prefer to go as Missionary under the supervision of a Lutheran Missionary Society, rather than to be beholden to other Christian denominations. This is the reason which constrains me to apply to your society. If the brethren feel inclined to send me as their agent to the heathen, the follow- ing conditions should be taken into consideration: (i) Your society will decide about the place or region of country where the mission is to be commenced. (2) The travel- ling expenses to the place of destination are to be paid out of the funds at present in the hands of your treasurer. (3") 'During the s)Tiodical year ending June i, 1842, $575, taken from the mission treasury, and $275.25, contributed, by St. John's English Church in Philadelphia and by the Bible Society of Lebanon County, had been sent to Mueller.
20 AMERICAN EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN MISSIONS IN INDIA The surplus in the treasury is to be paid to the mission in three equal instalments, if my life be spared that long. (4) I will invest 1000 dollars of my own money; the interest of this investment shall be applied to the support of the mis- sion as long as I remain in connection with the same. (5) To meet the other necessary expenses of the mission I rely on ministers and other friends of our undertaking, who will be ready to assist in the accomplishment of our object. Pray- ing the Lord to guide and bless you in your deliberations, I remain.
Respectfully yours,
C. F. Heyer.
Dilatoriness and timidity, which so often have harmed the interests of the Pennsylvania Ministerium, characterized the report of the special committee to whom Heyer's letter was referred.
"^ The committee expressed its "pleasure in perceiving how much Brother Heyer is devoted to the cause of Christ and His Church, desiring as he does, to be sent as a missionary to the heathen and having declared that it is his wish to be sent out by none other than the Lutheran Church." The committee, however, regretted that "the missionary society had not sufl&cient means on hand to form and main- tain a heathen mission and that it could not rely on the co- operation of the Lutheran brethren in the General Synod, who had united their efforts with the American Board." It therefore concluded that "the Pennsylvania Missionary So- ciety could not venture on such an enterprise as proposed by Rev. C. F. Heyer, even though it might entertain the hope that the Lutheran Church could and would do much for the salva- tion of the poor heathen, and was convinced that Heyer would be a suitable person to send as a foreign missionary to India."
There were present at that meeting, however, men who were not of such little faith. Earnestly and convincingly they pleaded for aggressive measures and immediate action.
* The committee consisted of the Revs. S. Sprecher, C. Miller and H. S. Miller. The two latter signed the report.
HINDUISM MOHAMMEDANISM CHPI5TIANITY 207,700,000 60.000.000 3.000.000
THE RELIGIONS OF INDIA
IllXnr SNAKK CIIAKMKRS
FIRST FOREIGN MISSION EFFORT IN LUTHERAN CHURCH 21 Their counsel prevailed. The resolutions offered by the Rev. C. R. Demme, D. D., seconded by the Rev. J. C. Baker, D. D., and passed unanimously, form the actual starting point of our Church's foreign mission in India. They were adopted on June 9, 1841, and read as follows: "Resolved, That in reliance on divine Providence we commence a heathen mission.
"Resolved, That we receive Brother Heyer as missionary into our service; his offer, however, to invest one thousand dollars of his own property, the interest of which is to aid in the support of the Mission so long as he is connected with it, be not accepted. "Resolved, That the Executive Committee be solicited immediately to enter into correspondence with Brother Heyer in order to carry the above resolutions into effect. "Resolved, That we recommend to the Executive Committee Hindustan, as a mission field for their consideration. "Resolved, That the treasurer, the Rev. Dr. Baker, be requested to address a circular to the different missionary societies of our Church, informing them of the above resolu- tions and inviting them to co-operate with us."
Thus the Pennsylvania Ministerium became the pioneer and leader in the work of foreign missions, as it did, at some time or another, in almost every other department of church work.