The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1897, Page 38

Transcription machine transcription, uncorrected

⤓ Download .txt · copy text

38

The Lutheran Pioneer.

(For the LUTHERAN PIONEER.)

Installation at Greensboro, N. C.

On the evening of the 29th of August the
chapel of our beloved ‘‘Grace Congregation’’
at Greensboro, N. C., was tastefully deco-
rated with flowers of various kinds— an indi-
cation of some important event to take place
in the congregation. Mr. Henry Persson, a
candidate of our Normal College at Addison,
Ill., was to be solemnly installed as teacher of
the Mission school at this place. After the
liturgical introduction and the
rendering of appropriate hymns,
the pastor read the text, on which
he based the sermon for the occa-
sion, from John 10, 11—16.

In his introduction he showed
to a very large and appreciative
audience, why we Lutherans or-
ganize Christian schools, namely,
not in opposition to the public
schools of our land; not in self-
conceit, thinking to have better
methods of teaching children the
various branches of secular knowl-
edge, etc., etc., but because, by
such schools, in which the breath
of godly fear and faithful prayer
governs all branches of instruc-
tion, and in which the study of
God’s word forms part and parcel
of the programme, we serve God,
unto whom in our Christian schools
we direct our dearest treasures,
our children, the work of His
hands; because therein we lead
our darling little ones to an early
knowledge of their great sin and
their greater Savior; again, be-
cause in our parochial schools, as
in the gardens or nurseries of the
Church, children are being born
unto Christ as dew of the morning;
furthermore, because through such
schools the jiomes, the cradle of
the Church and state, become
christianized and filled with the
Spirit of Jesus, the Lover of our
souls; and lastly, because in these schools
we serve our country by rearing law-abiding
citizens, who are subject to the ‘higher
powers.’’ After describing what a glorious
but at the same time responsible office the
newly called tutor had in drilling the little
recruits of the great Captain Jesus Christ in
the armory of the school to become soldiers
of the Cross, ‘‘strong in the Lord and in the
power of His might,’’ enabling them to put
on the whole armor of God, to use the breast-
plate of righteousness, to have their feet shod
with the preparation of the gospel of peace,
to'take the shield of faith, the helmet of sal-
vation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is
the word of God, so as to ‘tbe able to quench
all the fiery darts of the wicked,’?—the ques-
tion naturally arose, who was to be the guide

or model of the teacher in his arduous task?

|and the pastor endeavored to answer this by
preaching on the theme: ‘‘Jesus Christ, the
‘good Shepherd, an ensample for a Christian
teacher,’’ for He

I. gives Himself for His sheep,
II. provides for His sheep,
III. seeks also to bring to the fold strange
and lost sheep.

Dr. Martin Luther.

place, whereby he promised most solemnly, by
word and by joining of hands before the om-
nipresent God and in the presence of the as-
sembled congregation, that he was firmly and
earnestly resolved to fulfill all the duties of
his high and holy office with conscientious
fidelity, and order all his instructions accord-
ing to the word of God in Holy Scripture and
the confessions of our Ey. Luth. Church, and
by his whole life and conversation show him-
self a true servant of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Then the ‘Hv. Luth. Grace School’? of
Greensboro was committed to the charge of
Mr. Persson according to the impressive Lu-
theran custom. A prayer, in which God’s
Holy Spirit with all His blessings was invited
upon our school and teacher, and the singing
of the doxology closed the edifying service.

May Jesus Christ, the great, good and
faithful Shepherd, grant unto this, His under-
shepherd, divine wisdom in the discharge of
his high and responsible duties, in order that
he may be able to lead many tender lambs of
Christ to the green pastures of God’s Word
and beside the still waters of His mercy, and

}to make many who are not yet of Christ’s

fold to hear His voice and know Him, and

| follow Him through the valley of the shadow
After the sermon and rendition of another |

hymn, the installation of Mr. H. Persson took |

of death here below to the celestial fold on
high; and that, when the Chief-shepherd shall
appear, he may be numbered
among those blessed teachers
“that turn many to righteousness,
and who shall shine as the stars
for ever and ever.’’ Dan. 12, 3.

+ + oe -

Luther’s Faith.

In the trying times in which
Luther lived men of little faith
were in constant fear. ven Me-
lanchthon was often quite unhappy
because of a want of faith. Atthe
Diet of Augsburg, which was a
meeting held to discuss the doc-
trines and welfare of the church,
this man was so uneasy and fear-
ful that he was to be pitied. He
wrote to Luther, who was not per-
mitted to be present, as follows:
‘*All my time here is spent in tears
and mourning. My dwelling is in
perpetual tears. My consternation
is indescribable. O my father, I
do not wish my words to exaggerate
my sorrow; but without your con-
solations it is impossible for me to
enjoy here the least peace.’’

Luther replied to him thus:
“Grace and peace in Christ—in
Christ, I say, and not in the world.
Amen. I hate with exceeding
hatred those extreme cares which
consume you. If the cause be
unjust, abandon it. Why should
you belie the promise of Him who com-
mands us to sleep without fear. Can the
devil do more than kill us? Christ will not
be wanting to the work of justice and truth.
He lives. He reigns. What fear, then, can
we haye. . .. If Christ be not with us, where
is He in the whole universe? If we are not
in the church, where, I pray, is the church?
If we have not the Word, who is it that pos-
sesses it? If we fall, Christ falls with us;
that is to say, the Master of the world.
I would rather fall with Christ, than remain
standing with Cicsar.’’

Luther’s faith gave him comfort in the most
trying times. While at Coburg, during the
convention at Augsburg, he was of good cheer
despite the fact that the cause of truth was
assailed by the combined powers of the great