The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1928, Page 135

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THE LUTHERAN PIONEER.

Little Frances said to her mother: ‘I cannot wait
four years longer. Give me some of my money for
my Church. She had earned some money by
picking cotton, and she wished to give some of this
to the Lord. Her confirmed sisters, as well as her
parents, brought larger gifts, but the gift of little
Frances had the right ring in God’s ears as it fell
into God’s treasury. Though she was small, she
helped to make up the necessary hundred dollars.”

THE GOLDEN JUBILEE oF Our Mission.

Last year (1927) our colored congregations cel-
ebrated the fiftieth anniversary of our work among
them and their racial brethren and sisters. The
celebrations were partly joint celebrations and
partly the celebrations of individual congregations.
These services gave expression to the gratitude
which they felt in their hearts for all the work
which we have done among them in church and
school. Our colored Pastor Jesse Hunt, in the
name and by authority of our colored congregations
sent the following beautiful letter to the Synodical
Conference : —

“Beloved brethren and sisters:— For the past
fifty years we, the members of the Colored Missions,
have been the recipients of your gifts and the ob-
jects of your love. And since we are now celebrating
our Golden Jubilee, we cannot forego taking advan-
tage of the opportunity which this occasion offers
us to thank you for all that you have done for us
during the past half century. We thank you for
having begun the mission among our people and
for having brought the pure Gospel to us, that
Gospel which is able to save us through faith in
Christ Jesus. We do not believe that you began this
work without premeditation, but that you, who
have the Gospel in its truth and purity, were moved
by God to bring this Gospel to us, whom you had
helped before from physical slavery, so that by this
Gospel you may also liberate our hearts and souls
from the fetters of spiritual ignorance and the
chains of superstition and unbelief. That this was
your motive is plainly to be seen from the fact that
you have carried on this work incessantly and with
great earnestness among us for many years. We
cannot but appreciate the work and sacrifices which
you have given to us and for us. How can we repay
you for all your kindnesses? We owe you our
heartiest thanks, and our sincere desire is that we
may be able to convince you of our gratitude. Since
we have no means of proving our gratefulness to
you, we pray the Lord of heaven and earth that He

135

would richly pour out His blessings upon you in
time and eternity.

“We thank you for the earnest workers whom
you have put in the mission-field. These men have
worked with great zeal to bring the Word of God to
us Negroes. Many of them have spent their whole
lives in our service. This was by no means a small
sacrifice on their part, for in doing so they largely
experienced the ostracism of their own people.

“Another great sacrifice on the part of our white
brethren was this, that, while their own pulpits were
left unfilled, they gave us these proved and pious
men. Jor these spiritual and bodily sacrifices we
thank you heartily. c=

“And what has been the result among us? We
hear many people say, ‘If the Evangelical Lutheran
Synodical Conference had not brought the pure
Gospel to our people, many of us would never have
come to the knowledge of the truth? Who can num-
ber the souls that sat in darkness and the shadow of
death and passed their lives in ignorance and super-
stition, but now, by your instrumentality, have been
brought to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ?

“The full results of your work among us will
never become fully apparent in this world; but this
we know, that He who has promised that His Word
shall not return void, but prosper in the thing
whereto He sent it, will also bless the preaching of
the Gospel among us Negroes.

“The eyes of many blind have been opened, and
they have seen a great light. We thank you for
having brought us this light.”

Another colored pastor, John Alston, thus ex-
horted his fellow-Negroes to gratitude: —

“May we, as a proof of our heartfelt gratitude
for all the blessings we have received at the hands
of the Lutheran Church, continue our work with
new zeal! The opportunities to carry on mission-
work among our people are without number. Many
men, women, and children are dying daily in their
sins. Let us tell them of Christ, their Savior, who
died for them that they might live.

‘May: we, more richly then ever, lay upon God’s
altar our temporal means and consecrate our service
to the Lord for.the purpose of redeeming the blood-
bought souls of our fellow-men! The boundaries
are being expanded more and more. New stations
are being opened, and new chapels and schools must
be erected.

“Finally, let us show our gratitude by living and
dying like Christians. In our lives let us praise
God, who brought us the Gospel, and in death let