The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1922, Page 35

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The Lutheran Pioneer.

35

*Twas in a little log hut, about ten by eighteen,
nestled among the soughing pines down in Monroe
County, State of Alabama, that over fifty dusky-
hued persons gathered on the 26th of March to

Confirmation Class near Tinela, Ala.

witness the reception of the twenty-one children of
God into the ranks of sound Lutheranism. In this
log hut, which for five years has served as the
habitation of God’s house and the place where His
honor dwelleth, twenty-five Negro men, women, and
children on that day knelt in humility and solemn
reverence around the Lord’s Table to eat the body
and drink the blood given and shed for the remis-
sion of their sins. Out through the open door;
through the broken window-panes; through the
fissures in the wall of logs; out over the towering
pines, and riding the ethereal waves towards the
blue vault of heaven the silvery chords of

My hope is built on nothing less
Than Jesus’ blood and righteousness

finally broke in a burst of celestial cadence around
the throne ‘of God. And as these strains came from
this nether world, telling of one more triumph of
the Gospel over sin, and its offspring, death and
hell, the angels bowed before the throne and cried
the one to the other: “Worthy is the Lamb that
was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom,
and strength, and honor, and glory, and blessing,
forever and ever!”

Indeed, a great day of rejoicing in heaven;
a great day of joy for our little Mount Olive Con-
gregation at Tincla, Ala.; a great day of mourning
and bitter hatred in the bowels of the seething pit!

% * *

About twenty miles southeast of Tinela another:

band, at Buena Vista, joined the ranks on the
second day of April, and were received into the
communion of saints by baptism and confirmation.
This band of young soldiers numbered fourteen.
Of this glorious harvest of souls eight were baptized

and eight confirmed. To these young recruits who
have taken up the cause of the Cross the Savior
said: “Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give
thee a crown of life”; and with voices filled with
the vibrations of the new life that had been begotten
in them, these sturdy, dusky-hued children of the
soil answered as one, “We will, with the grace of
God!” From the miserable huts perched on the
hillsides, from the malaria-infested swamps, and
from the rolling savannahs of the upland these sons
and daughters of the freedmen were gathered into
the fold of Christ’s kingdom, there to confess
Luther’s God and Luther’s doctrine pure. As they
made their profession of undying faith, the record-
ing angel inscribed their names in the Lamb’s Book
of Life alongside the names of Abraham, Jacob,
Moses, Paul, Luther, Walther, and yours, dear sup-
porter of this blessed mission. From the four points
of the compass they came to witness this harvest of
God, and when they left, they carried in their
bosoms the seed of that which is able to make them
wise unto salvation. God bless that seed!
* * *

These souls are God’s Jubilee gift to the Synod-
ical Conference. What is yours to God, dear friend?
When we think of this blessed harvest and others
which are sure to follow, we should upon bended
knees pray :—

In this Year of Jubilee,
Year of mercy and of grace,

Humble thanks we offer Thee,
Lord God of our fallen race.

In this year: of Jubilee Ethiopia is stretching
forth her hand as never before. Out of the quag-

mire of sin and spiritual ignorance the faltering

Received into the Communion of Saints by Baptism
and Confirmation at Buena Vista, Ala.

and quavering voice cries in halting, but insistent
accents, “Won’t you help me to set my foot on
higher ground?” Out of the enveloping quicksands
of sin she stretches forth a thinning hand; a hand