# Synodical Conference Convention Proceedings_St. Louis Missouri_1900_S47
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

of the Ev. Luth. Synodical Conference of North America. 1900. 47

[caused] and greatly impaired church and school attendance. When we have visited our black Christians in their wretched huts to comfort them, we have often found among them such strong faith, such patience and sure hope of divine grace that we have gone away from them put to shame and comforted, thanking God heartily, who has laid such blessed fruit on our weak labor." On the occasion of the Southern District Synod in New Orleans many delegates visited our Negro schools and churches and rejoiced heartily over the fine discipline and order in the instruction and in the worship service, over the vigorous singing of our Lutheran hymns from the mouths of old and children, over the devout attention in listening to the sermon. They confessed: "How good this has done our hearts. How our eyes have been opened about this mission, what a gloriously blessed work it is. We had not thought that one could achieve such a thing among the Negroes." Professor Fürbringer also, who only a short time ago carried out a thorough visitation of our Negro mission in North Carolina and can give the Reverend Conference an oral report on it, spent several weeks with our missionaries entirely among our Negroes there, and confesses with great joy what fine Christian knowledge, what joyful faith, what hearty love for God's Word and for the Lutheran church, what untiring liberality for churchly purposes he has found among these Lutheran Negroes. Of the latter, their liberality, this also bears witness, that a part of the congregations send regular monthly contributions to our General Treasury and the whole sum in these two years amounts to $2164.57. Besides, most of them bear the running expenses for their poor and sick, for repairs, fire insurance and other things. Of the poverty of the Negroes in his congregation, however, Missionary Koßmann reports: "There was a time when the Negro still had some money. But since 1895 hard times set in and the Negroes suffered great want. Many had to go into the country merely to earn their daily bread. Children who should have been in school had to stay at home to earn a cent." Missionary Lankenau writes that almost throughout the last two years three quarters of his congregation members were out of work. And nevertheless these three congregations in these two years raised out of their poverty for churchly purposes $2530.76, of which $1475 was sent to the General Mission Treasury.

Is this not rich reward for faithful work? Is this not sweet fruit, bodily and spiritual, earthly and heavenly fruit, for the grateful joy of all those who sow and reap in this eternal heavenly sowing? Is there not fulfilled before our eyes what the faithful Savior prophesies of it in his precious words: "He who reaps receives wages, and gathers fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together"?