The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1886, Page 10

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10

The Lutheran Pioneer.

Letter from New Orleans.

DEAR PIONEER:—
It was the intention of the Missionary Board
to establish a Colored church and school in the
central part of this city and Rev. Aug. Burg-
dorf, who arrived and was ordained here in
October Jast year, was to take charge of the
same. After diligent inquiry, however, it was
ascertained that neither a suitable locality nor
a centrally located site fora church could be
secured; and the original plan of the Board
“was abandoned for the present. The new
Missionary, not at all discouraged by this
failure, labored energetically in our Mission,
preaching on Sunday and on week days and
exploring new fields. His
attention was at last called
to a church-property offered
for sale on favorable terms
by the German Evangelical
Church of Carollton, the 7th
District of this city. Church
and location answered our
purpose, and competent men
declared it fully worth the
price that was asked. The
field was surveyed and found
to contain ample material.
Yea, what is more, the Col-
ored people of Carollton de-
sired and encouraged us to
come and establish among
them a Christian school. The
Missionary Board, moved both
by the favorable outlook for
our Mission and the easy
terms, instructed the Mission-
aries to purchase and begin
the work. After some disap-
pointment and delay caused
by the vendors, the Docu-
ments were signed on the
16th day of February and
the Church taken in posses-
sion.
The Church is a frame structure, 2550,
adorned with an imposing steeple about 50 feet
/ high, from the top of which a rooster looks
down upon the church-goers admonishing them,
as it were, to watch, and reminding them of
Peter's shameful denial of the Saviour. It was,
therefore, known all over the city as the
‘Rooster Church.” At present it bears the
name of the “Ey. Luth. Trinity Church.’’
Though erected as far back as the year 1850,
it by no means shows its old age. The thorough
Brees renovation it received some years ago may
: account for this. The entire property, includ-
ing two lots of ground, measuring each 830X120
feet, benches, lamps, chandeliers, and a bell,
worth at least $75.00, was bought for Six
Hundred Dollars cash.
On the 21st of February, Sunday Septua-
gesima, the opening services were held. The
igned preached on John 8, 36. “If the
herefore, shall make you free, ye shall

be free indeed.’? The church was filled to its
utmost capacity. Tuesday following Pastor
Burgdorf opened his Day-school, and enrolled
33 children. Great many more are expected
in the near future. A few old people here
signified their intention to become members
of the church.

The opening of this new Mission field is thus
very encouraging and the outlook for a rich
harvest in every respect favorable. May the
Lord accomplish his promise also in behalf of
this church and its worshippers: ‘‘In all places
where I record my name, I will come unto
thee, and I will bless thee.’’

New Orleans, La., March 1, 1886.

Missionary.

**As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, eyen so must the Son of man
he lifted up: that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have
everlasting life.’?

The Church and Missions.

Who can answer this question? ‘The Par-
ish Visitor undertakes to answer it by the fol-
lowing account, related by a minister in Min-
nesota:

‘©A few months since,’ says a missionary of ~
Minnesota, ‘‘one who had been a heathen red
man, came 600 miles to visit me in my home,
As he came into the door he knelt at my feet.
He said to me, ‘I kneel to tell you of my
gratitude, that you pitied the red man.’

“He then told me his simple, artless story:
‘I was a wild man, living beyond the Turtle
Mountain. I knew that my people were per-
ishing. I never looked in the face of my child
that my heart was not sick. My fathers told
me there was a Great Spirit, and I have often
gone to the woods and tried
to ask him for help.’

“Then he looked in my
face in that artless way, and
said, ‘You don’t know what
I mean. You never stood
in the dark and reached out
your hand and took lold of
nothing. One day an Indian
came to my wigwam. He
said to me he had heard you
tell a Wonderful story at Red
Lake; that the reason why
the white man was so much
more blessed than the red
man was because he had the
true religion of the Son of
God; and I said, I must see
that man.

««¢They told me you would
be at the Red Lake crossing.
I came 200 miles; I asked
for you, and they said you
were sick. Then I said,
Where can I see a mission-
ary? Icame 150 miles more,
and I found that the mission-
ary was a red man like my-
self. My father, I have been

With him three moons. Ihave
the story in my heart. Itis no longer dark. It
laughs all the while.’ And he turned to me
and said, ‘ Will you not give me a missionary ?”

The church of the present day professes to
believe certain truths, and to assume certain
responsibilities, among which is the duty of
carrying the Gospel into all the world. But
do they as a body believe what they profess,
or perform what they undertake? Said the
dying Cherokee girl to one who had told her
the news of salvation:

‘*How long have you known these things,
that Jesus loves us, and died to save us?”

“*Oh,”’ answered the lady, ‘‘a great many
years—always.’’

The tearful child looked reproachfully on her
and answered :

*‘And you never told us. My mother and
my grandmother died without knowing Jesus.
Why did you not come before, and tell us this
great thing, that we too could have known the
way of life?’

Shame on us, that I had to say to him, ‘we
have not the man, and we have not the

means!’’’
<= 9 0 +

Look Over It.

A pastor was once walking with a brother,
who related to him his troubles, saying he did
not know what he should do. They were at
that moment passing a stone fence to a meadow,
over which a cow was looking. {Do you
know,’’ asked the pastor, ‘“‘why the cow looks
over that wall?’’ ‘‘No,” replied the one in
trouble. ‘I will tell you,’ said the pastor,
‘*hecause she cannot look through it; and that
is what you must do with your troubles; look
oyer and above them.”’