The Appeal. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. ;) 1889-19??, 1890-12-13
ENTERED AT POSTOFFICE As SECOND GLASS MATTE
SATURDAY. DECEMBER Is, 1890.

A correspondent of the New York Ma
ton sends an article to that Journal in
reference to the German Lutheran vote
in the Northwest which contains some
statements which will be a revelation to
many persons and indicates formida-
bic danger to our public school system
which has attracted little of the atten-
ton it deserves. TIE writer says: The
appearance of the German Lutheran
Church of the Northwest as a compact
and united force in politics is an event
Of great Importance, and justifes a
closer examination of the new factor,
with which legislators and statesmen,
considering provisions for t!e future
educational and Intellectual DEVELOPMENT
of our foreign population, will have to
deal. OF the principal underlying the
Bennett Law, that is the duty of an
American state to inforce the English ed.
ucation of its citizens The writer saws
sit was attacked by the German Lu-
theran clergy and especially by the re-
ligious press under their control, with
bitterness and injustice scarcely paral.
leled IN American political strife" This
new factor in politics., the Evangelical
Lutheran Synod of MISSOURI, Ohio and
adjacent states has, the writer states,
membership of neurly million souls,
1000 clergymen $500 congregations and
1.5OO parochial schools. TLewriter SAYS
hat"the entire spirit of The organiza-
ton is thoroughly un-American being
German-and German not of the nine
teenth but, on the contrary, of the six
teenth century," OF the publishing
house of St. Louis, he says; Not book
or pamphlet is published there but
shows the Indifferent spirit which dom
mated the Lutheran Church for short
period in the sixteenth century. The
theology of Luther, and in fact every
thing that he ever wrote, is treasured
with fetishlike worship, differing but
little from the Roman regard for ira
dition, and it is carried so far that in
the new great edition of Luther's works
in twenty-five quorto volumes leach
about half the size of ''Webster's Una.
bridged Dictionary, now publishing in
st. Louis, the 'Colloquia' Cor table talk')
is published with such completeness
that all puerile and filthy remarks are
preserved among the gems of thought.
A series of school books, notably Bible
histories, is published, wherein the artist
of the nineteenth century represents
the Deity according to the spirit Of the
sixteenth, as an old, rather benevolent.
looking gentleman, with full beard,
dressed in long loose gown; and this
.
conception is logically carried out in
other books of the series. The most
popular devotional work is the "Alten-
burger Bible-wsrk." this is a Bible,
with prefaces, summaries, etc. The fol-
lowing is sample of it's theology: "this
Is an example of a particular and prince
ly virtue which pleases God and is re-
warded with rich blessings that Jehu
slew all false prop hsts who had assisted
in the idolatrous worship of Baal, and
that he made the house of Baal draught-
house. For such action appertains es-
pecially to secular government: it should
restrain idolatry with all seriousness and /
without any mercy (ohne allie Gnade)
For since Gods honor and the salvation
of our neighbor are concerned, one
should not be lazy or negligent about it.