The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1928, Page 170

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-170

THE LUTHERAN PIONEER.

spirit and aim of a Christian purpose, is not a useful
and helpful stimulus to social progress. It should
rather be counted a noble and legitimate missionary
instrumentality. Our contention, then, is that mere
education, either elementary or higher, apart from
Christianity, with no promptings of Christian
morality, no infusion of Christian truth, and no
lessons in Christian living, is not in itself an effec-
tive instrument of social regeneration. We do not
dispute that it is an intellectual stimulus, that it
broadens the outlook and breaks the fetters of super-
stition, is of benefit in its sphere and way as a
ministry to the mental faculties, and that it may in-
deed be a scholastic preparation for a subsequent
study and more appreciative apprehension of Chris-
tian truth and morality; yet, while it is in alliance
with materialism, agnosticism, or a false and super-
stitious system, its, power as a moral regenerator cf
society is ata minimum. Civilization is not derived
from, or based upon, knowledge in the head so much
.as if is drawn from, and prompted by, a true
religious and human temper in the heart and life
of man.

“The evidence of this lack of regenerative power
in mere education is not wanting. The ancient
culture and the highest scholastic achievements of
Oriental and classical paganism were developed side
by side with the grossest moral degradation and the
most colossal social wrongs. Classical philosophy in
its most ideal development had nothing better to
offer as a social system than Plato’s dream of a per-
fect society as represented in his Republic, and as
Dr. Fairbairn says: ‘That Republic could not have
been realized without the ruin of humanity” ‘The
Renaissance was a revival of learning, but it was
fruitless in moral energy until the Reformation in-
troduced the spirit of a living religious faith into
the quickened intellectual development of Europe in
the sixteenth century. The deistical revival in the
eighteenth century was an effort to alienate learning
and religion, and its tendencies are recorded in the
history of Western Europe in that century of social
reaction and SIAM 2 F. J. L.

It Started in a Cleaning and Dyeing
Establishment.

f On a Sunday morning, late in the fall of 1924,
a group of people was standing in front of a
_ cleaning and dyeing establishment in a suburb of
Memphis. “Who are those people, and what are they
pone there?” inquired a passer-by. “Why, don’t

That’s the new Lutheran
was the answer given by a

you read the papers?
mission congregation,”
companion.

This was part of an actual conversation about a
month after the first Lutheran service in Highland
Heights, Tennessee, a suburb of Memphis, with a
population of between 15,000 and 20,000, which is
located directly east of the city proper and in line
with the general expansion program of the city.

In the early part of November, 1924, a mis-
sionary of our Church began his work here. The
first service, which was held in the Presbyterian
church on a Sunday afternoon, was attended by
about 15 persons. However, the time was not suit-
able, and because of the lack of funds the services
were transferred to the cleaning and dyeing shop of
one of the members. During the latter part of the
month the new mission-congregation was organized
wit 7% voting members, 17 communicants, and 27
souls. Jor almost a year the little mission-congre-
gation held services in this establishment, struggling
along and working hard to obtain a more suitable
place of worship.

The surroundings can easily be imagined. ‘The
room was not very large. On the one side and under-
neath the windows. were the large steam-presses.
On the opposite side, suspended from the ceiling,

“one would see the hangers, adorned with every

imaginable sort of wearing apparel. The farther
end of the room was occupied by the cleaning-tables,
while throughout the entire space other articles
of such a place could be seen. Adjoining was the
dyeing apartment. In front of this room an im-
provised table seryed as altar and pulpit. To the
one side of the table a small “baby” organ found its
place, while scattered in and out among the presses
and tables, wherever convenient, were the chairs for
the congregation.

Yet to the members the place was not without its
symbolical meaning.
process found its counterpart in that Word which
they heard and followed. And the Word did not
return void, as God promised it would not. The
Sunday-school department was expanding, new
members were being added to the congregation, and
the prospects for eromth seemed to be ver 'y bright.
The Lord blessed the work, and it grew as the
months went by.

During the course of those months a building
fund was established. Approximately $1,200 was
pledged by the members. With the help of the
Western District Church Extension Board a suitable
location was purchased for the new home. A lot

The cleaning and dyeing’