# The Lutheran Pioneer_St. Louis_1891_S38 # Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration) EE a DR aT BE mearaee ses aecrmy _ one sad feature about it. His efforts to procure|#0und and a clearer tone—the sound of the _ “the gate of heaven.’”’ This is an outline of yet kindly aspect, came walking down the ‘thus making, whenever you please, out of the| and assist her.—Exchange. 88 The Lutheran Pioneer. Se ———— —————— two one large, convenient and beautiful audi- A Grim Performance. ence-room. The whole inside is covered with wainscoting, and panneled. The ceilings are square arches, Sunday, the 6th of September, was a red-| that of the church bending one way, and that letter day for the colored mission at Meherrin,|0f the school, another, making a most agree- Va.; both for pastor and people. The pastor, | able impression on the eye and lending ease to Rey. D. H. Schooff, under whose faithful labor | the voice. of nearly a year buildings for church and school The altar and pulpit are in good old Lutheran purposes had been erected, could now rejoice at | style. the completion of this kind of work, and the} The whole, outside and inside, is of wood; people could rejoice in the benefits thus assured|#nd all the wood is so-called old-field pine to them. Their church and school were dedi-| Which only began its growth since the war, cated to the service of God, which means their] and which less than a year ago was humming spiritual and eternal salvation. to the breezes of the woods. Now the spot is For the pastor especially there was, however, | Cleared and its lumber is used to serve a higher (For the ‘‘ Lutheran Pioneer.’’) Church and School Dedication at Meherrin, Va. Indian papers describe a recent performance by which the leading Europeans of the station, one of them being the Governor of Madras, to amuse themselves. A local paper thus describes the affair: “The great feature of a ball given at Ootaca- mund the other evening by Sir James Dormer, the Madras Commander-in-Chief, was a set of Lancers, danced by eight men attired as devils in black coats, knee breeches, black stockings, shoes, and black gauze wings, with long black tailsand horns. When the first discordant crash of fiendish music was heard (the introduction to the ‘Bogie Man Lancers’) each devil seized a reluctant angel and dragged her to a place in the set. The angels were most becomingly attired in loose flowing robes of white, with silver girdles, and stars in their hair, flowing wing sleeves, and a big spray of lilies in their hands. ... The devils danced with the most wonderful fiendish grace ‘and agility, dragging their partners, whirling them round and pirou- etting round them. They finished up with a wild, rapid waltz, ended by giving yells of triumph and truly unearthly shrieks.’’ Is it any wonder that the Christian people of the Madras presidency are indignant that those in authority should take part in a per- formance equally derogatory to their own of- ficial dignity and dishonoring to the name ‘of Christian? Is it any wonder that missionaries find their work hampered at every step by the examples set by nominal Christians? Satan may well have sneered as he saw his servants boldly mocking him. ‘That his chil- dren should make light of his claims, might well cause the Father of lies to feel that they were safe, that they would make no attempt to escape from his rule. Alas, that there should be a day coming when Satan will laugh, and the ‘smiles of his dupes will be turned into wailing. an assistant in the dedication service proved in| Gospel and the tone of truth. vain. At the dedication proper he was alone.| In the angle of the cross, between the church After working so hard with the rude aid of |and school, a steeple 8XS rises to the height the colored members, to build the church and | of 42 feet and is mounted with a wooden cross. school, he alone must preach the dedication| It holds a bell weighing 900 lbs., a gift from sermon. No wonder the wearied heart sought| Pastor Felton’s church of Sheboygan, Wis. the solitude of the surrounding forest, there to| Entrance to both church and school is made find relief in prayer and tears, before he as-| through this steeple which also forms a vesti- cended the pulpit to dedicate the buildings, to} bule to both. The whole cost the mission the the completion of which he even on that morn-| modest sum of $600.00, the work of the faithful ing had put the finishing stroke.- But he was| missionary and members, of course, not counted. gratified with the sweetest gratification of a| God make them a blessing unto many. missionary—a good audience. Richmond, Va. C. J. OEHLSCHLAEGER. The undersigned would gladly have been == with him. But duties in his own church in She Trusted Him. Richmond would not permit. As soon as they did, he took the afternoon train and arrived} One wet, foggy, muddy day a little girl was in time to preach in the evening at 8 o'clock. standing on one side of the street, in London, Again a good audience of colored people, and waiting for an opportunity to cross over.. Those some white, was present to hear the word| who have seen London streets on auch a day, of God. with their wet and mud, and have watched ‘The sermon was on the text: Gen. 28, 16.17.|the rush of cabs, hansoms, omnibuses and The Church, the house of God. What makes] carriages, will not wonder that a little girl it such? God’s presence; not in general, as|should be afraid to try to make her way He is everywhere present, but in especial, as/ through such a Babel as that. So she walked with the operations of His grace by His Spirit up and down, and looked into the faces of in the Word and Sacraments—in the Gospel—| those who passed by. Some looked careless, Jacob’s Ladder. And what the church is as} some harsh, some were in haste; and she did such, namely, as the house of God: a ‘‘dread-| not find the one she sought until at length an ful’’—holy place; a delightful, blessed place—| aged man, rather tall and spare, and of grave Security of the Sheep. the sermon in the evening, to which the audi-| street. Looking in his face, she seemed to see ence listened with joyous attention. in him the one for whom she had been waiting, And indeed they had and still have reason] and she went up to him and whispered timidly to be full of joy. The church and school are| ‘Please, sir, will you help me over?”’ not only in every respect adequate, but an} ‘The old man saw the little girl safely across ornament to that Virginia village and the sur-| the street; and when he afterward told the rounding country. The two buildings are built] story he said: ‘That little girl’s trust was one together in the form of across. The top-piece| of the greatest compliments I ever had in my of the cross, 1216, forms the altar-niche.|life.”? _ The broad cross-piece, 2638, formsthechurch-| ‘That man was the great Lord Shaftabury. room. ‘The lower, long end of the cross, the} He received honors at the hands of a mighty school-room, 2632, is built against the side| nation; he was complimented with the freedom of the church, leaving the latter to project|of the greatest city on the globe; he received 6 feet on either side, thus completing the cross.|the honors conferred by royalty; but the _ The school-room is separated from the church-| greatest compliment he ever had in his life room by sliding doors, in pannels of six feet, | was when that little girl singled him out in the which can all be rolled to one side into the six| jostling crowd of a London street, and dared feet of offset between the school and the church; | to trust him, stranger though he was, to protect Jesus answered them, I told you, and ye be- lieved not: the works that I do in My Father's name, they bear witness of Me. But ye believe not, because ye are not of My sheep, as I said unto you. My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me: and I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of My hand. My Father, which gave them Me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of My Father’s hand. I and My Father are one, John 10, 25—380. 2 ~~ ona oe Ir is a great comfort to people of common- place gifts and talents to know that the measure of success, in the Master’s sight at the last, will not be the largeness of result, but faithful- ness in the use of what the Master has entrusted to us. and another the Commander-in-Chief, sought . f i * |