Publisher's Synopsis
Excerpt from The Spirit of Missions: October 1873
A great number of these foreigners mentioned by the Bishop may be Scandinavians, but most of them are Germans. And this is not an excepa tional case. Whole districts of our Eastern cities, and considerable portions of the Western States, turn out a German majority. Large city churches stand deserted because Americans, following the tide of fashion and busi ness, move up-town, and their places are filled by German immigrants hundreds of Episeopal Missions need.constant help because our Church people are scattered among a foreign-born population. If, in either case, the Germans could be brought into the Church, the benefit would be on both sides; the Church would rapidly grow in every direction, and many precious souls that now are a prey to infidelity, and comeguemfily an immense danger to the Church, would be saved to save others. But we appear to be slower to realize our duty and privilege than the rest of American Chris tians. Methodists and United Brethren number about German communicants; Baptists have many hundred German congregations and a german-american Seminary of their own Presbyterians report one hundred congregations and two seminaries for the Germans, with about thirty-students of Theology. The success of the Church of Rome is evi dent in every city and town where there is a German element. Lutherans count communicants, of whom about are Germans, and show an annual increase of about members. The latter number proves also how unjust the reproach of universal infidelity is with regard to the Germans. It can be shown that the Lutherans alone are regularly gathering into their churches ten per cent. Of the German immigrants, or twenty per cent. Of them that historically belong to their body, having been members of the Lutheran State Churches in Germany. And twenty per cent. Is certainly more than the average membership gained by the genuine American denominations from their own people. At any rate, the Germans might be found. As worthy an object for our Missionary labor as the Indians or the Haitians; and our Church should not be so very far behind the poorest Protestant body in this vast field. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
