The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1897, Page 14

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.did not work through His Word

14 ; The Lutheran Pioneer.

of Christ, who but recently cursed, scoffed,|I am the first and the last; I am He that
and despised Jesus, have now accepted this| liveth and was dead; and, behold, I am alive

same Jesus as their Redeemer, their Saviour,
and their only treasure. God be praised!
‘This is the Lord’s doing; it is marvelous
in our eyes.’ And how glad, how joyful,
yea, how happy were they! With joy they
have forsaken father and mother, sisters and

* brothers, and also their earthly inheritance,

and have taken upon themselves the reproach
of Christ. This is not the work of human
power and human wisdom; Jehovah Christ
alone can do this, He that rose from the dead
on the third day! Alas! the poor world
doubts that Christ is risen from
the dead. Why, here again is a
proof of His resurrection. If He
were not risen, if He did not sit
at the right hand of God, if He

and Spirit in the hearts of men,
how could these two souls have
passed from death unto life?
Though we of the circumcision
who have come to Christ are not
witnesses of His resurrection in
the sense in which the apostles
were, still we are witnesses by our
conversion, since a special power
of divine grace is necessary to
break the deeply rooted enmity
against Jesus in the heart of a Jew,
to take away the fierce hatred
against the Nazarene with which
he is thoroughly filled, to bring
him to faith in Christ as his Jeho-
vah and God, and to make him
forsake all for His sake. Jesus of
Nazareth, who was once so de-
spised and hated by us former
Jews, be praised and loved in all
eternity for all love and grace
shown to us, His enemies!”’
Yes, Jesus lives! Let us all be
more zealous in mission work. ‘The
command to preach the Gospel to
all creatures, and the promise of
blessing for such work are the
command and promise, not of a dead Christ,
but of a living Christ, who will see to it that
our obedience to His command and our trust
in His promise are not in vain.
' Jesus lives! Let missionaries take courage

_ and joyfully bear all the hardships of the mis-

sion field. Their labor can not be in vain.
The living Saviour is with them in the Gospel
that they make known in the church and in
the school. No matter whether they see much
fruit, or little fruit, or no fruit at all. Jesus
lives! He takes care of the fruit. He will
see to it that His Word does not return to
Him void, but that it accomplishes that which

_ He pleases, and that it prospers in the thing
__ whereto He sends it.

‘Jesus lives! Our prayers are heard, our

is blessed, the heathen shall become

canis
My Df

for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of
hell and of death.’’

Hallelujah! Jesus lives!

—— ++ 0< e+

Mount Zion Colored Lutheran Church.

Sunday, Feb. 21, was a day of joy for our
Colored Lutheran Mount Zion congregation
at New Orleans. This is our oldest mission
congregation in that city. It was organized
more than fourteen years ago in the old and

EL es > =—

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Mount Zion Colored Lutheran Church, New Orleans, La.

the first-class material put in it. The church
is 57 feet in length, by 36 and 82 feet in width.
The tower is 76 feet in height. The altar is
in a recess, to one side of which is the vestry
room, from which also a step leads into the
pulpit. The interior of the church is already
very beautiful, but will be still more so when
all plans elaborated for its perfect completion
are carried out. The church is a most beauti-
ful little structure—in fact, it is a model of
architecture and especially well adapted to
this climate and city,’’

Dedication services were held in the after-
noon and evening, ‘the church, on both occa-
sions, being crowded to its utmost
capacity. The choirs of our Lu-
theran churches in New-Orleans
and also the colored school chil-
dren rendered several beautiful
hymns. In the afternoon services
the Rev. Bakke of North Carolina,
the former pastor of the congrega-
tion, delivered the principal ser-
mon. Having efliciently served the
congregation for many years, he
could well point out to the mem-
bers the many difliculties through
which they had passed, the help
of God that they at all times ex-
perienced, and the many blessings
bestowed upon them and their
children through the. teaching of
the Gospel in church and school.
After having given an interesting
history of the congregation, he
spoke on Psalm 68, 31: ‘Princes
shall come out of Egypt; Ethiopia
shall soon stretch out her hands
unto God.’’ In speaking of colored
mission work, he said that it was
gratifying and encouraging to the
minister of the Gospel to know
that, in the face of all the preju-
dices existing, his work is sanc-
tioned by the Word of God.
“Ethiopia shall soon stretch out
her hands unto God,’’ says the
Psalmist, and to-day Ethiopia was

dilapitated ‘‘Sailors’ Home,” and during the} stretching forth her hands in prayer to the

first years of its existence passed through
many difficulties and adversities. But the
Lord was with them and prospered His work
among them. In 1884 the congregation re-
moved to a better church building, cor. Frank-
lin and Thalia Sts., where the mission greatly
prospered. In the course of time, however,
the building proved no longer suitable for
church purposes, and so it was replaced by
a new and handsome church building, which
was dedicated with joy and thanksgiving on
Sunday, Feb. 21.

The new church is a handsome edifice.
A New Orleans paper says: ‘All who have
seen the church pronounce it to be one of the
finest for its size in the city. It was erected
at a cost of $2500, but experts say that it
should have cost about $3500 on account of

Almighty. He described the Church of God
on earth. First, he said, it is immovable;
secondly, it is a glorious edifice; thirdly, it
is universal.

In the evening a second service was held
in the new church to celebrate the dedica-
tion, the sermon being preached by Rev. J. C.
Schmidt, of Greensboro, N. C.

At the afternoon services nearly every mem-
ber of our Lutheran synod, which at the time
was holding its sessions in New Orleans, was
present, and all expressed themselves as being
highly gratified at the progress of our mission.

May God continue to prosper His work in
Mount Zion!

—_ Oe ee

Love should give wings to the feet of service

and strength to the arms of labor.