The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1922, Sheet 69

Transcription machine transcription, uncorrected

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The Lutheran Pioneer.

Alabama.

During the past months our readers have been
told much about the work here in the Southland.
Let me add a few lines which may be of interest to
the friends of our mission.

The opposition with which we met at Holy Ark,
where a congregation was organized this June, is
still strong. Every effort has been made to put an
end to the work which has been started at this place.
Recently a sectarian preacher called a meeting of all
people living at Holy Ark, as we were informed, to
“tell them things which the undersigned had for-
gotten to tell them.” On the night of this meeting,
it is alleged, many false reports were given about

our Lutheran Church and her work. Let me name ©

but three. 1. It was stated that that man (meaning
the writer) is not a Lutheran, but a Catholic priest
who is sailing under a Lutheran flag. The speaker
told the audience: “I have watched this man who
comes here to preach to you, and have found that
he spends his Sundays in the Catholic church in
Selma.” 2. The gathering was also told: “I have
written this man three times concerning the work
here, and he does not answer his mail.” 3. “If you
Negroes here at Holy Ark are not careful, you will
find out — when it is too late — that this man does
not mean it well with you, that he is not your
friend, but that he has some sinister motive in com-
ing to this place and teaching you.” Such are the
tactics used in an effort to bring to naught the work
which our Lutheran Church is doing at Holy Ark.

And still, in spite of the calumny, in spite of
threats and promises, the little flock at Holy Ark
remains steadfast and loyal to our Church. May
God continue to hold His protecting hand over the
work at this point.

Our Institute at Tinela was held the latter part
of July. A complete report will be given in these
columns, Let me mention the effect of our congre-
gational singing during the Institute. Our meet-
ings were held in the open, with only a thin canvas
covering over our heads. The strains of the hymns,
“Come, Thou Almighty King,” “Jesus and Shall It

Ever Be,” “All Glory Be to God on High,” “How,

Sweet the Name of Jesus Sounds,” etce., rang far
out into the surrounding country. They also
reached the home of a white family on one of the
near-by plantations. ‘The remark was made: “If
the singing in heaven is as good as that Lutheran
singing, I want to be there.”

We were sitting on the “veranda” of a cabin,

waiting for the people to come to services.

The
mellow light of the moon covered up all defects in
the scenery and made the surrounding country un-

usually beautiful. Our thoughts went back to the
days of slavery, and we were interrupted in our
meditation by an old Uncle who sat by our side.
“Do you know,” said he, “the people down here
believe that the only way to put out a fire started
by lightning is with sweet milk.” — There are
people in this section of the country so steeped in
superstition as to believe such nonsense. And what
is worse, there are tens of thousands here in the
Southland who are convinced that by their deeds,
prayers, and works they can appease the wrath of
God. They know nothing of the grace of God in
Christ Jesus. Let us with unabated zeal support
the glorious work in Alabama, leading people from
their ignorance, superstition, and sin to Christ and
heaven and happiness. G. A. Scnanpr.

Ordination of a New Laborer.

On Sunday, August 6, the undersigned preached
his valedictory sermon at Joffre, Ala., using as his
text 2 Cor. 13, 11. His successor is Candidate
Eugene B. Cozart, one of this year’s graduates of
Immanuel Lutheran College, Greensboro, N. C., who

was ordained and installed in his field of labor on—__—

the same day that the writer preached his last ser-
mon there. In the ordination sermon, which was
preached by Superintendent G. A. Schmidt, the
young laborer was charged and admonished to
preach the Word of God, the Law in its severity
and the Gospel in all its sweetness. The ordination
sermon was based on 1 Kings 22,14. After the ser-
mon the young missionary was formally ordained
and installed by Superintendent Schmidt, assisted
by the writer.

The people of St. John’s at Joffre were priy-
ileged to hear yet a third sermon on that same day,
for their new pastor after his ordination and in-
stallation entered the pulpit and preached his in-
augural sermon to his new flock, basing his discourse
on 2 Thess. 2,13. His sermon was practically a re-
sponse to the previous discourse of Pastor Schmidt,
for he promised his members that he would faith-
fully proclaim to them the Word of God as it is
revealed in the Scriptures, that he would preach
both Law and Gospel, and that he would do so
publicly and privately as occasion demanded. He
concluded his sermon by asking his hearers to give