The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1906, Page 84

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84

Jerusalem Church in Tranquebar.

The church which our picture represents is an
old historic Lutheran church in faraway India. It
was built about two hundred years ago by the
Lutheran missionary, the Rev. Ziegenbalg, who,
with his friend Pluetschau, arrived in India July 9,
1706, to do mission work among the natives of that
heathen land. They were the first Protestant mis-
sionaries in India, laboring faithfully under many
difficulties and hardships. Ziegenbalg himself wrote
soon after the work was begun: “I must confess

The Lutheran Pioneer.

little congregation grew, we thought that we might
build a little church. When the devil found this
out, he strove against this purpose with all his
might, and sought in every way to hinder it. But
we could not be turned from it, and we built a
small church, which, August 14, 1707, was con-
secrated with great solemnity and called New Jeru-
salem Church. This church God has so blessed and
filled with Christians from among the heathen, that
we now can scarcely find room in it. This is an
indication that God will soon bring help for en-
larging it.”

Jerusalem Church in Tranquebar, India.

that, as this holy work was begun against great
opposition, and with great afflictions and tempta-
tions, it also has progressed amidst most serious
hostility and various trials. Instead of being dis-
heartened thereby, we have been only encouraged,
as we are assured from God’s Word and our own
experience that it is under the cross that the Gospel
always makes the greatest progress. The love which
led us to renounce our fatherland and all our
friends, and brought us through so long and dan-
gerous a way, has rendered everything easy to us,
which otherwise would have seemed almost impos-
sible.”
The Lord abundantly blessed the labors of His
faithful servants, and Ziegenbalg soon saw the need
of a church building. He himself writes: “As our

That first church built by Ziegenbalg does no
longer exist. It was soon replaced by the larger
and finer church which you see in our picture. It
is in the form of a Greek cross, is in a good state
of preservation, and is still the mission church of
Tranquebar. It will hold about 1000 people. The
church was crowded when in July of this year, on
the two hundredth anniversary of the landing of
the pioneer Protestant missionaries in India, festi-
val services were held in memory of Ziegenbalg, the
faithful missionary, whose body rests in its grave
before the altar of the church, awaiting the blessed
morning of a glorious resurrection.

“ALL sins are big, no matter how small they
look.”