The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1879, Page 15

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The Lutheran Pioneer.:

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Obermeyer of the German Lutheran Church
at Little Rock.

All the services were highly interesting
and were duly appreciated by an attentive con-
gregation throughout. Ever since our chapel
was consecrated to the service of God it has
proved itself worthy of the name of a house
of God, which the Almighty honors by His
presence, and there are always such who as-
semble in the name of Jesus, and Jesus is in
the midst of them. We shall, therefore, cele-
brate the anniversary of dedication day with
joy and thanksgiving. We shall obtain for our
readers a full report of the anniversary fest-
ivities. F. B

——s- +o oo

News from Little Rock, Ark.

8ST. PAUL'S ACADEMY.—THE MISSION SUNDAY-
SCHOOL.—ST. PAUL'S CHURCH-MATTERS.—PIc-
NIC.—MARRIAGE.—THE EXODUS.

Above 130 children are now being taught in
the St. Paul’s Colored Lutheran Academy.
This school was established in connection with
the Lutheran mission carried on at Little Rock.
Pastor Berg of St. Paul's Lutheran chapel is
the principal and Mr. H. Frincke the assistant,
at present. The average daily attendance is
satisfactory, as is also the advancement of the
pupils in the several branches taught. Great
care is taken to afford the children a thorough
religious instruction and training. Discipline
in the school is maintained on strictly Christian
principles. ‘The first session will close in the
last week of June. The second session will be-
gin on the first day of September, 1879.

The Colored Lutheran Sunday-school is stead-
ily increasing in number and excellence. Al-
ready 140 names are on its roll, the average
attendance being 120 every Sabbath. Pastor
Berg is the superintendent, Mr. H. Frincke
assistant, and Mrs. Reed and Misses Ealy and
King teachers. Reading of the Testament,
Bible-history, and general religious instruction
are the studies. Adults are always welcome
as visitors or to join a class. Every month the
Lutheran Child’s Paper is distributed among
the scholars.

One new member has of late been added to
the church. A class of 7 persons has been
organized among the members to receive spec-
ial instruction for confirmation on the second
Sunday in June. Three children are receiving
instruction preparatory to being baptized. For
the better information of the members and
visitors generally, the ‘Forms of Worship for
the St. Paul’s Evangelical Lutheran Church
at Little Rock, Ark.’’, have been issued and
are distributed for use among those attending
the services.—A fine organ was purchased for
the Sunday-school and church. The members
of the church and their friends meet on Thurs-
day night of every week to practice old and
new tunes to be sung in public Worship, to
transact current business, to discuss church-
affairs, and to listen to the instruction given to
the class preparing for confirmation.

Wednesday; Muay 14., was selected as the
day on which the Sunday-school and the Acad-
emy were to hold their basket-picnic, their par-
ents and friends being cordially invited to at-
tend. Singing, declamations, addresses, and
all kinds of amusements were to be the order
of the day.

On April 9. Mr. Peter McClary and Miss
Ellen Booth, both of Little Rock, were united
in holy wedlock by the missionary, Pastor Berg.

Comparatively very little is said and done
here in regard to the general exodus of colored
people from the southern states northward.
The colored people of this section have’ great
cause to be content with their lot, least of all to
desire to exchange it for the hardships their
emigrating brethren are now undergoing in
Kansas. F. B.

A Letter from our Missionary at New
Orleans, La.

New Orleans, La., April 29., 1879.
Dear PIONEER:

Let me drop you a few lines concerning our
mission here in New Orleans. Through the
grace of God our work is progressing. On Sun-
day, the 20th of this month, we had confirm-
ation in our ‘‘Mount Zion Evangelical Lutheran
Mission-Hall’”” on Erato Str. On that day I
confirmed 7 persons. ‘Their names are the fol-
lowing: Willis R. Polk, Eudora Carter, Nancy
Butler, Martha Johnson, Sarah Lewis, Henry
Ford, Emma Ford. On the following Sunday
I confirmed also Mary Jones, who could not be
present on the first Sunday on account of ill-
ness. Previous to confirmation these brethren
and sisters were instructed by me in the doc-
trines of the Word of God according to Dr.
Martin Luther's Smaller Catechism. All of
these persons are above 20 years old. They
seem to feel perfectly at home in our church.
Some of them have been in connection with
our mission as scholars of our Sunday-school
from the very beginning. Our work seems to
gain the confidence of the people more and
more. A poor widow by the name of Mrs.
Conkling, who has been lying on the sickbed
for already 5 years, has also made application
to be received as 2 member of our “Mount Zion
Evangelical Lutheran Church’’.

Still others attend our meetings very reg-
ularly and seem to be convinced that in our
church the Word of God is taught in its purity.
I am in hopes that in a short time the number
of our members will be doubled.

Last Sunday the Lord’s Supper was admin-
istered to the confirmed members. I must say,
their earnestness and devotion made a deep im-
pression upon me. May the Lord strengthen
them and keep them in the true faith unto life
everlasting.

Oux Sunday-school is still flourishing, al-
though the number of scholars is not quite as
large as it was about 4 months ago. We have
met with a good deal of opposition.

-

Brother Huetmann has worked in our Sun-

day-school with untiring zeal, ever since it was
opened about a year ago, and he is still a warm

friend of the same.
Yours, in the Lord,
Joun F. Dorscuer.

—s- +o o>

The Life of Dr. Martin Luther.

Iv.
Luter rN THE CLOIsTER.

When Luther had entered the cloister, he
began to read the Bible so eagerly, that he
soon knew on which page every passage was to
be found. He would often spend a whole day
in reflecting upon an important sentence. The
other monks, however, did not like to see
Luther study so hard; they feared that through
his great learning he would soon gain the
mastery over them. They told him: ‘Not by
studying, but by begging the cloisters are
served and made rich.’’ So he had to take the
sack on his back and go begging from door to
door. His friends of the University often saw
him, pale and bowed down under the heavy
bag, slowly walking through the streets of
Erfurt. He was also compelled to do the
meanest and filthiest work in the cloister. He
had to act as doorkeeper, regulate the clock,
sweep the church, and eyen clean the water
closets. Luther did it all willingly. But the
University of Erfurt would not allow one of its
most learned and honored members to be
treated so shamefully. By the request of his
friends, therefore, Luther was released of such
mean work and thereby gained time for study,
whilst the other monks, for the most part,
wasted their time in laziness, in good eating
and drinking. Luther says: ‘The most of
them were careless good fellows, accustomed to
the easy life of the priesthood and the cloister,
who never, during all their lives, experienced
a true spiritual conflict.” ‘To eat no meat
they called fasting, while they ate the best fish
and drank good wine.’ ‘‘For every day of
fasting there were three days of feasting.’’ In
the evening every one of those monks got two
pots of beer and 2 mug of wine, with ginger-
bread and salt cake. They ate the salt cake in
order to make the drinking easier. Now, those
monks must have looked very thin and pale.
Luther says: ‘They looked like fiery angels,
so very thin and pale were they!”” He found
among them the greatest pride, greediness after
money, unchastity, hatred and envy, drunken-
ness, gluttony and other gross sins. They led
immoral lives and were the servants of their
own bellies.

There were only a few that earnestly desired
to be truly holy monks, and Luther was one of
those few. He had become a monk:in order to
gain heaven by a holy life and by his own good
works. He hoped to satisfy the law and to
bring peace to his troubled heart by praying to
the virgin Mary and to three different saints
daily, and by letting his body waste away with