The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1915, Page 59

Transcription machine transcription, uncorrected

⤓ Download .txt · copy text

A ; The Lutheran Pioneer. 59

eee eenuquqaBaa0. /

ment of darkness; they are spiritually dead, blind,
and enemies of God. ‘That was also your condition,
my friends. And from this bondage of sin, from
this slavery of the soul, no carnal weapons, no
proclamation of a president, could make you free.
There is no escape from this spiritual bondage, not
even by death. ‘lemporal death, on the contrary,
seals for all eternity the bondage of the sinner.

But praise be to God now and forevermore for
having sent His only-begotten Son into the world
to free the world from the power of the devil, to
break the chains of spiritual bondage. Christ, the
Son of God, has redeemed, purchased, and won us
from sin, from death, and from the power of the
devil, “not with gold or silver, but with His holy,
precious blood and with THis innocent suffering and
death’ And the tidings of this spiritual emanci-
pation have been brought to you by missionaries
of the Lutheran Church. ‘The salvation which is
in Jesus Christ has been preached to you, and not
in vain. ‘he Gospel has proved a power of God
in you unto salvation. God has begun in you the
good work of faith. - He has destroyed the dominion
of Satan over your heart, He has broken the chains
of’sin. ‘Che Son of God has made you free, and
now you are free indeed. You are free children of
God, free citizens of Christ’s kingdom of grace,
and heirs of everlasting life. God has blessed you
abundantly with spiritual blessings in heavenly
places. You of all men have reason to begin every
day and to end every day by saying with David:
“Bless the Lord, O my soul; and all that is within
me bless His holy name. Bless the Lord, O my
soul, and forget not.all His benefits.”

But now, my friends, “Be sober and vigilant;
because your adversary, the devil, as a roaring lion,
-walketh about, seeking whom he may devour.” Be
on your guard, lest he weave around your heart
cords of sin, making you again his slaves and
prisoners of eternal death. Fight the good fight
of faith; the battle will soon be over, and victory
is sure. ‘The time is near at hand when you shall
stand with a crown of glory on your head hefore
the throne of God. And then you shall see the
Savior face to face, and then you shall sing, to-
gether with countless millions of all nations, colors,
and tongues, a new song of praise forevermore.
Then shall you be free, absolutely free, from
every evil. :

By the grace of God I hope to, be one of that
great host, assembled to give glory to God and His
Christ throughout all eternity, and by the same

grace I hope to meet you there. Then shall we
dwell in the house of the Lord together forever.
Amen. H. Speckranrp.

Nore. —'The above address was delivered by the Ven.
Vice-President of the Synodical Conference, ‘the Rev. H.
Speckhard, before a number of our Colored Lutheran con-
gregations in New Orleans. We take pleasure in giving it
space in our little Pioneer, and feel sure that it will find
many readers, both because of its contents and because of
the prominence of the speaker. F. J. L.

North Carolina Sunday-School
Convention.

Sunday, June 13, the Lutheran Sunday-schools
of North Carolina met for their annual conven-
tion at St. John’s Evangelical Lutheran Church,
Salisbury, N. C. Sunday morning, at 11 o'clock,
the undersigned preached. After divine service the
ladies of the congregation served luncheon in the
assembly-room of the new schoolhouse. Every one
seemed to be well pleased with this part of the
program.

At 1.30 p. wt. the regular sessions of the con-
yention were begun. After the invocation, which
was offered by the Rey. John Alston, of Mount
Pleasant, N. .C., the pastor loci delivered the wel-
come address. Dr. J. W. Fuller, of Concord, N. C.,
responded to the address of the Rev. Lash, after
which the Sunday-school choir of Salisbury favored
the audience with a very beautiful anthem. The
President, Rev. W. G. Schwehn, of Concord, then
made the opening address. ‘The roll was called,
and the various Sunday-schools answered with col-
lections. After the reading of the minutes of the
last session the officers for the ensuing year were
elected.

All business completed, the program proper was
taken up.+ Miss Lillian Holmes, of The Rocks,
N. C., sang a solo. Mrs. W. H. Lash then read
a highly instructive paper on “Sunday-school Work.”
She developed her subject in such a way as to show
that she was absolute master of it, and, without
flattery, it was easily the hest number on the *pro-
gram. Neoda Lee Holt, of Salisbury, favored us
with a recitation, after which Miss Alice Heilig,
of ‘The Rocks, sang a solo. On account of. illness
Mr. J. H. Morgan, of Greensboro, was prevented
from reading his paper on “Why Should We Use
the Missouri Literature in Our Sunday-schools ?”
After Miss T. Galloway, of Greensboro, had ‘favored