# The Lutheran Pioneer_St. Louis_1910_S47
# Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

_ eS JeIRRER CE Pioneer. 49

From Meherrin, Va.

On February 7, last, Mrs. Sallie Wall slept in
Jesus. She was between sixty and seventy, and
for two years her health was broken. Aunt Sallie
was held in respect by the community, white and
she led a sober,
Howard Wall, our depot agent at
in whose family she served in her early
showed kind and friendly interest in’ her

welfare to the end.

She was of the first-fruits of our mission work
here. The Rev. W. R. Buehler began his work at
Green Bay, a railway village four miles east of here.
The poor colored people were Baptists in sentiment,
and it was hard to win them to the truth of God.
Then three Baptist women of the Doswell Settle-
ment invited Missionary Buehler to come and preach
for them. He came, and so began our successful
work, one mile west of our present church. Those

* three women were, Mrs. Chanay Doswell, Mrs. Mary
A. Doswell, and Mrs. Sallie Wall.

Their husbands followed these women, and in
course of time they all, with their children, con-
fessed their faith im the pure Gospel truths as taught
in the Lutheran Church.

For several years past, other preaching points
in this region have been abandoned, and St. Mat-
thew’s is our only station now in Virginia.

We still have one family ten miles west, at
Pleasant Grove. the head of this
family has been misled by the doctrines of a false
prophet named Charles ‘I’. Russell.

The influence of the unbelieving, ungodly world
is felt also by our congregation. It is a grief to
more faithful members that many of the young
and of the children show little love for the Word
of God. ‘The dance and other worldly associations
attract them. But among us also God blesses the
ministry of His Word according to His promise,
and our Jabor is not in vain.

Thirty-two received the Lord’s Supper at easter
communion. That is the largest number in some
time.

One of our young women last winter married a
Baptist. She said, “We have but this one church
in Virginia, so that, if we marry at all, we must
marry out of our church.” J. S. Korner.

colored, because industrious, and
godly life. Mr.
Meherrin,

years,

Vor some time,

To confess that you were wrong yesterday is
only to acknowledge that you are a little wiser
to-day.

NOTES.

Foouisu
Maryland writes: “Qast winter a revival was held
in our town. One of the preachers spoke on the
conversion of Saul, who afterwards became the
ereat apostle Paul. ‘Trying to explain this miracu-
lous conversion, he said that Saul had a sunstroke
just outside the city of Damascus. His theory
seemed very foolish even to the members of the
preacher’s own church; for who ever heard that a
sunstroke could turn a persecutor into a preacher,
or make a Christian out of a skeptic?”

Yes, a foolish theory. If that preacher’s theory
be correct, he might see to it that his church closes
its seminaries and stand the students against a
brick wall and have them all “sunstroked” to make
preachers out of them. Tlowever, it is not only
a foolish, but also a wicked theory, sprung from
unbelief and hatred of the Bible. It was very
probably taken from the writing of some higher
critic, who denies the inspiration of the Bible and
does away with the miracles of God.

Anoruer. —'The communication of our friend
reminded us of what we heard of an old colored
preacher in Alabama, who tried to explain to his
hearers the miraculous passing of the people of
Israel through the Red Sea, whilst Pharaoh and
his people were drowned. THis theory was just as
good, or just as bad, as that of the white revival
preacher. ‘The old colored preacher said that the
Red Sea was.frozen over, and so afforded the Is-
raclites a safe passage; but when Pharaoh with
his heayy iron chariots tried to cross, he broke
through and was drowned. A colored brother rose
and asked an explanation of that “p’int.” Said he,
“T's been studyin’ g’ography, and de g’ography
say dat am de place whar de tropics am, and de
tropics am too hot for freezin’; de p/int to be
explained am bout breakin’ through de ice.” The
old preacher straightened himself up and said,
“Brudder, glad you axed dat question, for it gives
me ’casion to ’splain it. You see, dat war a great
while ago, befo’ dey had any g’ographies, and hefo’
dar war any tropics.”

Fruirs or Mission Worx. — Thirty years ago,
Uganda, Africa, was a heathen state, where super-
stition and cruelty reigned. ‘To-day, 360,000 of
its inhabitants, more than one-half of its entire
population, are Christians.