The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1928, Sheet 76

Transcription machine transcription, uncorrected

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largest plantations in Wilcox County, stopped the
writer on the road near the spot where Uncle Simon,
during the days of slavery, spent many of his boy-
hood days. The conversation, naturally, drifted to
the subject of the work our Lutheran Church is
doing among the neglected colored people in the
Southland. After complimentary remarks about
our churches and schools this man spoke in glowing
terms about Uncle Simon, stating, among other
things, that he knew of no one in whom he had
placed greater confidence than in this old colored
man. Uncle Simon had been a member of a sec-
tarian church; in fact, he was a deacon. He had
held this office for forty years. Unlike that drunken

Rev. Geo. A. Schmidt,
Superintendent of the Alabama Tield.

leader whom we saw staggering along a path in
the woods some time ago, Uncle Simon lived a clean,
decent, moral life. He was loved and honored by
white and colored alike. His home was a peaceful,
quiet little haven to which men and women went
for advice and where little children loved to visit
and to play. But there was something missing in
this old man’s heart and soul, though he knew not
what it was.
And so the weeks, months, years, rolled by.

Uncle Simon Finds His Savior.

On February 19, 1922, the Lutheran missionary
drove his Ford to Longmile Place to preach a
sermon. The meeting was held in Sid McDowell’s
house, only a stone’s cast from Uncle Simon’s little

THE LUTHERAN PIONEER.

home. There was great excitement in this other-
wise undisturbed community. For days prior to
the meeting, people talked about the coming of the
“new” church. Some spoke in favor of it. Others
used bitter remarks and even uttered threats
against it. In the large crowd that gathered in
Sid’s home on that memorable day to hear the first
Lutheran sermon was an old gray-haired colored
man, wrinkled and stooped with the burden of some
eighty odd years. It was Uncle Simon. He had
come to hear the Lutheran preacher. We still
recall the earnest expression on his face as he fol-
lowed closely and thoughtfully the sermon that was
being preached. The burden of the message that
day is beautifully expressed in the words of the
poet: —

Not what these hands have done
Can save this guilty soul;

Not what this toiling flesh has borne
Can make my spirit whole.

Not what I feel or do
Can give me peace with God;

Not all my prayers and sighs and tears
Can bear this awful load.

Thy work alone, O Christ,
Can ease this weight of sin;
Thy blood alone, O Lamb of God,
Can give me peace within.

God sent His Spirit and blessed the words
spoken that day on the hearts of many. There can
be no doubt that Uncle Simon that day found his
Savior. The void in his spirit and heart was filled,
and he beamed radiantly. Standing under a tree
outside, a group of elderly men gathered about this
old veteran and asked, “Uncle Simon, what do you
think about that preacher and his Church?” Said
he, “I’ve quit thinking, —I made up my mind to
join it.”

Uncle Simon Becomes a Lutheran.

God alone knows the influence that remark of
Uncle Simon’s exerted upon many others that day.
Uncle Simon did join the Lutheran Church. When
the first class of forty-two souls was received into
fellowship at Longmile Place, he came forward and
vowed faithfulness to the Savior and His Church.
He never broke his promise. On one occasion he
told the writer: “I can’t thank God enough for
sending the Lutheran Church to me in my old age.
Had you not come, I would have gone to hell; for
I was blindly hoping to get to heaven by my good
life and works.”

What an inspiration this old man was to the
pastor and what a wonderful example for others!