Excerpt from An Historical Sketch of St. Paul's Evangelical Lutheran Congregation, Wilmington, N. C Silence falls on the little assembly as the meeting is opened with a devout prayer in the name of Jesus. All feel the presence of the Lord and the certainty of His promise to guide and counsel His own in all their ways. The prayer ended, the purpose of the meet ing is stated in clear and convincing manner. When at length the question is asked, How many of you are now ready to organize and support a Lutheran congregation '7 they rise one by one and place their names on record. Fifty-eight names are enrolled. How mani fest the interest and enthusiasm of these fifty eight! They decide to seek a suitable lot, to build a church thereon and to call a pastor as soon as possible. Thus the first city missionary enterprise of the North Carolina Synod came into being and the foundation of the St. Paul's of to day was laid. Fifty years have passed since that day and now as a result of these resolutions a large congregation assembles in a beautiful build ing. Let us retain and cherish the mental picture of that first meeting. Let us be grate ful to God for the noble purpose He gave those men and women and for the manifold blessings He bestowed upon their labors. In order that the present generation may not be ignorant of the annals of St. Paul's, we venture upon a chronicle of its career. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.