The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1932, Page 116

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116

THE LUTHERAN PIONEER

From the Eastern. Field.

At St. Philip’s, St. Louis, the fifth anniversary
of the congregation was celebrated with an ingath-
ering of many new members. No less than seven-
teen persons were received into membership by the
rite of confirmation. The anniversary was cele-
brated on June 19. — On Pentecost Sunday, Pastor
Carter confirmed six children. at St. Philip’s, Chi-
cago. The male members of this congregation have
organized a society. — On May .15 our mission in
Buffalo received nine new members by confirmation.
The Sunday-school added seventeen new members
to its roll in May. ‘The services are being extraor-
dinarily well . attended. — Holy Trinity, Spring-
field, Illinois, increased its membership on Pente-
cost by the confirmation of two persons. — The
High Point, North Carolina, school closed a very
successful year with a program that made a great
impression upon all who attended the exercises. —
Our Atlanta school held its final exercises before
very appreciative audience. — At Washington,
D. G., a class is being prepared for confirmation. —
Pastor and Mrs. Rau of Cincinnati announce the
advent of a daughter, born June 24. God bless
parents and child! F. J. 1.

Hannibal Jarvis.

A martial name and the name of a real soldier,
a real soldier of the Cross. In a sense the name of
Hannibal was very appropriate for Uncle Jarvis.
Of the first Hannibal, who was a poor heathen, we
are told that his father, Hamilcar, had him take
an oath when he was only a boy nine years of age

‘that he would foster an implacable hatred against

Rome in his heart as long as he lived. And we
kmow that Hannibal never forgot this oath which
he took in the heathen temple at Carthage. Uncle
Hannibal Jarvis was not a bloodthirsty soldier like
Hannibal the Carthagenian, but he had also taken
an oath to fight three foes with God’s help as long
as he lived. These three enemies were much
stronger than was Rome, the enemy of the Car-

_thagenian Hannibal; for they were sin, world, and

the devil. Against these three foes Uncle Hannibal
Jarvis fought a good fight; and what was more
than Hannibal of Carthage did, he waged a success-
ful war against his foes. His battle was a vic-
torious struggle, and he was crowned with the
garlands of victory; for God translated him from

the Church Militant to the Church Triumphant.

Hannibal Jarvis was born a slave in Virginia in
the year 1807. When a young man, he was sold to
the State of Louisiana. Here he served the State
on a so-called snag-boat on the Red River till the
outbreak of the Civil War. During the war he was
brought to New Orleans, and there he continued to
live till his death, about thirty years ago.

While still a slave, he joined a church and was
a local preacher of the denomination of which he
was a member till the time of his joining the Lu-
theran Church in 1883. As a local preacher he
had much opportunity to preach and in his igno-

-rance of the Bible pointed out to his hearers a wrong
.way to heaven.

He once told the writer: “Many
a time I turned the Bible upside down in order to
bring it into agreement with my belief. It never

entered my mind that. my belief must be wrong if

it didn’t agree with the Bible, till Pastor Bakke
made it plain to me. Yes, if was no easy task for
him to get me to see that I must bring my mind
into subjection to God’s Word. Now, indeed, I don’t
see how I could be so blind, — yes, I do see it; for
the Scriptures say: ‘The natural man receiveth not
the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolish-
ness unto him; neither can he know them.’ ”

During the last ten years of his life, Uncle Jarvis
knew of no guide to heaven except the Bible. While
he as a local preacher had exhorted his hearers:
“You must pray; you must wrestle with God; you
must struggle till you feel God’s grace,” he in his
last years spoke only of God’s grace, Christ’s merits,
and faith in Christ.

Uncle Jarvis had fully mastered the Biblical
doctrine of justification, the teaching of God’s
Word that we are justified by grace alone, for
Christ’s sake, through faith, as the little episode
I shall narrate will plainly show. In the instruc-
tion hour for adults preparing for confirmation,
which he always attended, the writer had been
speaking on the subject of faith. After having
completed the subject, those who wished to ask any
questions were invited to do so. Since no one had
anything to ask, Uncle Jarvis said, “From what
you have said, it is plain that we have our sins
forgiven, not because of our faith, but through
faith; is it not so?” ‘The question came so un-
expectedly that for the moment the young pastor
was unable to speak. Then he repeated: “Yes,
indeed, we are justified through faith and not for
the sake of our faith.” And then the writer con-
tinued: “But why may we not say that we are
justified because of our faith?” Without a mo-