called and ordained by His Church. You wish to test this proffering of grace from the Trinity. If you find error in such a profession show us in Christian love and lay before us that which is contrary to the Word of God. And if you find within the depths of God's Word a better path, let us know. We do not willfully desire to follow our own path but rather remain true to His domain. It is our greatest wish to return with you in holy communion when we can receive loving counsel from your lips, sincere remonstrance and words of comfort from God without fear. And it is my hope that the Lord, Jesus, will be the true shepherd, will show us His Love, will gather His sheep and His lambs together, and will care for us. Perhaps it was through His Grace that you were held back, so that He could alleviate your imprisoned condition. Should the Lord in His great Wisdom choose otherwise and lead a portion of his plagued and suppressed congregation across the great ocean while leaving another portion behind to suffer bitter difficulty, so He will protect you with greater and renewed strength. May His Will be done to us all. Amen. "   In loving remembrance and Christian prayer I commend myself and the whole church to you. Yours in Love                                              "Christian Bierosch "Relay my petition to the beloved brothers in Breslau. Read the letter at the conference so that the brothers are aware of our plan to emigrate, above all else to alert them to unjust speculations and false reports so that the enemy may not use the circumstance to create discord and hatred, thus ensnaring us in its net. May the Lord Jesus preserve us all with His Grace whether we remain here or divide ourselves by the great ocean. We are united as members of the body in spirit, dependent on our Almighty Leader and Savior, Jesus Christ, remade in the blood of His Righteousness. May He help us through His Grace. Amen. "I commend myself to the prayers of all Christian friends." Return to Text

4. In the 3rd Synodal Letter of the Buffalo Synod it states on page 80: "He was ordained a Lutheran minister by Dr. Scheibel in order to serve some of the persecuted Lutheran congregations in Silesia. For this reason he was transported under arrest to Erfurt by the United Church local government body, which did not recognize his ordination. Here they got to know him." Return to Text 5. Under "Sources" see Numbers 1 - 8 as well as Dr. Scheibel's Latest History and Current History of the Lutheran Church, Page 239. Further see page 244 of the Magdeburg congregation's petition to His Majesty Friedrich Wilhelm IV and His Cabinet. Return to Text 6. Dr. Scheibel wrote in his book Development of the Lutheran Church, page 245: "Over 2000 of the small number of their members left their brothers and emigrated (in the Summer of 1837) for fear of greater misfortune to Australia; and the largest number likewise left for personal reasons to North America (in the Fall of 1838). Many fortified themselves in the sad yet to them understandable doctrine of Stephanism." Return to Text 7. Remarks from The Last Histories of the Lutheran Parish of Nuremberg, page 40. Also The Adversaries of the Lutheran Church, page 229. "The contemporaries were too greatly under the influence of the time to properly judge their meaning. This is the basis for the great number who recognized the authority of the Union and the Agenda. But it will be clear to our progeny that the 31st of October, 1817 and the 25th of June, 1830 were in truth the days on which the Church of Christ was delivered by the believers to the non-believers; those were the days on which the empire of Christ was seceded to the Antichrist Caesar-papists, just as October 31, 1517 and June 25, 1530 marked the deliverance from superstition to faith and papism to the empire of Christ. 1817 brought the birth of the Union and 1830 marked the celebration of the Agenda festival. Both were disguised as commemorative celebrations of the Lutheran Church (See Luke 22, 47 & 48; 2 Corinithians 11, 13 - 15)." Return to Text 8. Mr. Bierosch, the chairman of the Silesian Emigration Committee states clearly in the Letter in Self Defense, page 58, that Pastor Krause advised against the emigration to North America and exhorted the families who had signed the power of attorney to lay the groundwork for emigration to Australia. Very few were willing to give up the idea of going to North America. The congregation maintained its decision and Pastor Krause declared his willingness to travel to North America.

Further details can be found in "Letters to the Evangelical-Lutheran Church from E.M. Bürger, Leipzig, 1846." Return to Text 9. In "Letters in Self Defense" Mr. Bierosch reported on page 59: "Because of our consensus to emigrate we encountered many difficulties. It became apparent at the end of October that it would not be possible to make the sea crossing before Winter." Return to Text 10. In the correspondence cited in footnote 2, page 55: "the letters placed America in a bad light," and Pastor Grabau wrote in his 3rd Synodal Letter, page 80: "While we were already negotiating for emigration, he sent back brief letters to Germany which related complaints and doubts." Return to Text 11. "It is not known whether the Silesians emigrated with Pastor Krause through tacit agreement at that time. Pastor Grabau was also emigrating with his congregation. The congregations left without permission. While the Silesians had waited for some time in Hamburg, Pastor Grabau arrived in Erfurt with his congregation." See Correspondence, page 55. Return to Text 12. Concerning Pastor Kavel, see among other things, The Newest Adversaries of the Lutheran Church by C. Ehrenström and E. Kellner, page 178 Return to Text 13. "Letters in Self Defense", page 60: "The Captain, now Pastor von Rohr, who was in Hamburg at the time, warned them that to depart in Christian peace and love while the others could not and while matters were still being decided, did not bode well. Pastor Grabau would soon arrive with the Pommeranians, then we all could leave together for America." Return to Text 14. In the 5th Synodal Letter of the Buffalo Synod and in "Letters in Self Defense", page 57 it was called the Thuringian-Magdeburgian-Pommeranian Emigrating Congregation. Return to Text 15. Details are reported in "Letters in Self Defense" in the volume of "The Ban of the Silesians" and the Correspondence of the Evangelical-Lutheran Church to Pastor E.M. Bürger. Return to Text 16. The letter to Mr. Angas is in print with "Letters in Self Defense", page 65: "Dear Mr. Angas, We have received information from our Deputy, Mr. Schulthes, concerning the credit terms of costs for passage of 200 people to Australia. This amounts to 7000 dollars, which you have promised to us and we in turn have promised to accept; we however have nowhere near 200 people

and we only have so many resources. We still ask whether it would be possible to make arrangements based on the number of people we have and our limited finances with a similar loan. Thus we will recognize that it is God's Will for us to go to Australia." Return to Text 17. "Letters in Self Defense", page 73, explains that Mr. Bierosch, chairman of the Silesian congregation, was induced by Pastor Grabau to write the letter; he was never able to find peace until the letter was written. Return to Text 18. Pastor Grabau himself writes in his 3rd Synodal Report, page 80: "He (Pastor Krause) was ordained a Lutheran minister by Dr. Scheibel in order to serve some of the persecuted Lutheran congregations in Silesia. Return to Text 19. One may see what is reported concerning the Silesian Ban in "Letters in Self Defense", pages 100, etc. Return to Text 20. In "Letters in Self Defense", page 60: "We could not all travel on one ship; we feared that the living God would submerge us to the bottom with them. They were seen as fainthearted, unfaithful, idolatrous and in God's hierarchy resistant to His Laws. This unjust judgment came from Pastor Grabau's perverted interpretation of the Word of God.  l. Cor.14, 40." Return to Text 21. In the 3rd Synodal Letter of the Buffalo Synod: "He also arrived from Hamburg through New York and on to Buffalo and here he had a small Lutheran audience."    *Oral report from Mr. Sam. Bindig, then a candidate for confirmation. Return to Text 22. There were 72 souls, who separated from Pastor Grabau's church congregation. They told Pastor Krause the story and Pastor Krause promised to speak with Pastor Grabau about it. Before Pastor Grabau's arrival Pastor Krause had also given absolution and sacrament. After 12 days Chairman Bierosch traveled with 7 families from Buffalo to Illinois. They stayed there. After the 7 families had left, Pastor Krause secretly left Buffalo in order to travel to Germany. See Letter in Self Defense, pages 73 and 74. "Letters in Self Defense", page 99: "It has already been mentioned that these Silesians did not sail on the same ship as Grabau and his congregation. They had reached America's shores before him. They were already in Buffalo where their appointed pastor, Krause, was waiting and holding church services, etc. with families already living in Buffalo. Return to Text 23. In "Letters in Self Defense", page 113:

"...these were the first roots of a Lutheran congregation in this city." Return to Text 24. "Letters in Self Defense", page 109: The Silesian congregation is the original group to emigrate from Prussia and settle in Buffalo. They were here in Buffalo before Pastor Grabau and his congregation. They had the name "Trinity Evangelical-Lutheran Church" before Grabau's congregation. At the beginning Grabau's congregation had incorporated under the name "Old Lutheran Church". Our congregation was already incorporated under the name "Trinity Evangelical-Lutheran Church" but Grabau's congregation took over our name. They originally came from Silesia for the sake of their Lutheran beliefs. They left their fatherland and emigrated in unison with their pastor, Krause. Pastor Grabau had never been their pastor nor did they wish him to be." In No. 14: "The Silesians formed a self-supporting congregation, which in these pages it has oft been mentioned that they had Pastor Krause as a spiritual caregiver." In 3rd Synodal Letter of the Buffalo Synod, page 81: "Our congregation arrived in New York and Buffalo in 1839. He [Krause] returned to Silesia full of disheartening news. He was arrested by the United Church police and put into prison as had happened to other Lutheran ministers of the time. While in prison he was overtaken with doubt because he believed that he was neglected and scorned by the Lutheran Christians, and he was not visited. He began to despise his own church brothers who had been freed and he betrayed the location of secret hiding places out of hatred to the United Church police. As a reward the betrayer was released from his imprisonment but soon after his deed was made public. He became repentant, submitted a public apology to the Upper Church Collegiate in Breslau, was readmitted into the church, was reinstated as a minister in Prussia, was given friendly advice to seek an appointment with the brothers in America...He was forgiven. .....and the congregation in Buffalo called him for their church services in 1841." Return to Text 25. Mr. Samuel Bindig, then a candidate for confirmation, reported that the confirmation ceremony was held 10 days after the Silesians' arrival and that one boy and 3 girls were confirmed. They were: Samuel Bindig, Helene Puscheck and two daughters of Mr. Heckwer, who soon after traveled with Mr. Bierosch out west. Return to Text 26. In the 2nd Synodal Letter of the Buffalo Synod, page 42: "Pastor Krause preached to them long before the Silesians came to Buffalo. The renters there (Krieg and Sieffert) were not Silesians." (Correspondence, page 69, reported the above.) Return to Text

In another place (2nd Synodal Letter, page 42): "Pastor Grabau assumed the ministry of the travelling Pastor Krause, who had taken his leave of him in New York, taking over the room rented by Krieg and Sieffert." In "Letters of Self Defense", page 114: It would be wrong to conclude that the Silesians had given up the right to become a self-sustaining congregation or that they had called Pastor Grabau to become their pastor." Return to Text 27. In "Letters in Self Defense", page 99: "Above all else the Silesians no longer thought of themselves as banned. Krause seemed to be in agreement with this perception for he disapproved of Grabau's behavior in Hamburg and gave the Silesians the sacraments in Buffalo, thus declaring Grabau's pronouncement null and void." Return to Text 28. In "Letters in Self Defense", page 74, the chairman of the Silesian congregation, Mr. Chr. Bierosch, related that Grabau had treated the Silesian Lutherans as excommunicants here as he had in Hamburg. Return to Text 29. "Letters in Self Defense", page 94: "Hail to you, America. To you the Church has come! proclaimed Grabau at the time of his arrival in America from the pulpit to his audience, as reported by witnesses who were there." "Letters in Self Defense", page 81: "See there, the Silesian gang!" Return to Text 30. On Page 114 of "Letters in Self Defense" the editor wrote in a footnote: "This did not happen outside protocol but rather under the instruction which Krause had given the Silesians, who stayed a week in Buffalo and then moved out West. It was he [Krause] who had left his first congregation in a lurch. When he arrived in Hamburg on the Elba he wrote a letter on the 23rd of November 1839 to the Silesians who had moved west. In this letter, the contents of which were also known to the Silesians who remained in Buffalo, it was written: "Until such time as the Lord wills it otherwise the Lutheran brother Bierosch, who is a true teacher of children, may give you the sacraments of baptism and communion. Let him do this for you, they were instructed as it has been permitted since 1836 in the case of need as established by the committee members of our church."    *See "Letters in Self Defense", page 114; Correspondence, page 71. Return to Text 31. See "Letters in Self Defense", pages 114 and 115; also Correspondence, page 72. Return to Text 32. According to oral testimony of Mrs. Maria Gräser, nee Sieffert, and S. Bindig. Also see Correspondence, page 83 and following pages. Return to Text 33. In the 3rd Synodal Letter, page 81, Pastor Grabau wrote: "He came to repent, delivered a public apology to the Upper Church College in Breslau, again became a member of the church,

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