The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1913, Page 35

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‘Lhe Lutheran Pioneer.

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lieved were of one heart and of one soul” have al-
ways been the periods of greatest prosperity and
blessings in the Church.

The “work of the Lord” was not committed to
the ministry of the Church nor to the officers of a
congregation, but to the whole Church and to each
and every individual member thereof. When the
Lord converts a sinner, He hires a laborer. “We
are Lis workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto
good works, which God hath before ordained that
we should walk in them,” says St. Paul. The idler
in the Church, though his name may help to swell
the roster, is not a blessing, but a bane and a
burden. Not only does he fail to be of any service
to the Chureh in the prosecution of its activities,
but he is positively a damper to the development
of the energies of others; his is cold water on the
fire of their enthusiasm; he is a troublesome inter-
ruption in the current of their interest; he is a
barnacle on the ship of their progress. Many con-
gregations are-stunted in their spiritual growth
because they are overpopulated with inactive mem-
Others are unable to do their proper share
in advancing the missionary work of the Church
because the willing members are hampered by the

irritating presence of those who are unwilling to
lend a hand.

On the other hand, we sometimes hear of con-
gregations which, though small and comparatively
poor in this world’s goods, far surpass larger and
wealthier congregations in things done for the gen-
eral advancement of the Lord’s work. ‘That is no
mystery. ‘he members are simply—to use a
homely but telling phrase —all pulling together.

The fact is, there is none so high and mighty
but what he will find in the Church some field’ of
usefulness that is equal to his measure. ‘There is
none so low and humble but what he will find a
spoke in the wheel of progress to take hold of. The
penny of the widow and the orphan given in the
cause of the kingdom is worthy of as much notice
-in the sight of. God as the princely contribution of
the capitalist; and the kingdom is in need of the
one as much as of the other. ‘The prayer of a simple
and unschooled servant is not less effective than
that of an erudite man of letters, —and the Lord
wants to hear from both.

If the Gospel of Christ is worth having, it is
worth spreading. And there is still so much room
to spread it in that the individual effort of every
Christian is needed to carry on the work.

K. K.

bers.

An Active Church-Member.
An Example to Others.

The old members of our missionary churches,
who with the missionaries have borne the heat and
the burden of early struggling pioneer days in
primitive houses of worship, and who were sneered
at and sometimes persecuted because of their con-
nection with the Lutheran Church in charge of
white pastors, are few and far between. Most of
these “old-timers” have entered the rest which re-

WILHELMINA HOSBAND.

mains for the people of God. Here and there one
is still found who, with Simeon and’ Hannah, have
seen the salvation of the Lord and are waiting and
longing to depart in peace.

The first adult catechumen class at Mount Zion,
at Franklin and Thalia Sts., New Orleans, num-
bered fourteen-members, mostly elderly people. Of
these only one remains, Mrs. Wilhelmina Hosband.
The others of the class have fought the good fight
of faith and finished their course. For thirty years
Sister Hosband has served her Savior faithfully as
a member of Mount Zion Church. Being a dili-
gent hearer of God’s Word and a doer of the same,