# Der Lutheraner_St. Louis Missouri_1911 06 13_S189
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

189

like the Lord, but they have seen the fire and now come to the missionary to look at it more closely. I speak of course only of such heathen as become Christians. They do indeed come with their heathen heart, always full of worry about food, drink, and clothing, and hope that something might be thrown off for that purpose. But through the missionary the Lord calls out to them: "Draw not nigh hither; put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground," Ex. 3:5. That means: You heathen, give up your false, carnal hopes and expectations of Christianity, for here it concerns your soul, God, the kingdom of heaven, and salvation. Throughout the whole course of baptismal instruction they are told this again and again. They now see nothing but wonders; countless new truths open up before their eyes. The Holy Spirit creates new hearts in them and converts them to Christ their Savior. Only a few turn back during the learning. In most of them God's Word works so powerfully in their hearts that they willingly let themselves be baptized. That is how our congregation here came into being. But we say with Luther:

O Lord, through the gleam of thy light
Thou hast gathered to the faith
The people out of every tongue of the world:
For that, O Lord, be praise sung to thee.
Hallelujah!

Let me offer one more example to show what relation heathen preaching bears to the heathen's coming to Christianity. In the field at Jericho a man stood facing Joshua. Joshua asked him: "Art thou for us, or for our adversaries?" This man likewise stands facing the heathen through heathen preaching. The heathen do not yet recognize him; they do not know whether he is friend or foe, whether they should turn away from him and flee or come to him. Just as the man made himself known to Joshua and answered: "Nay, but as captain of the host of the Lord am I now come," so he makes himself known to the catechumens — that is, those heathen who are having themselves prepared for baptism. And just as Joshua fell on his face to the earth, worshiped the man, and asked for his word, so the heathen become Christians, let themselves be baptized, hear his word, believe in him and worship him; they also begin to take the shoes off their feet, that is, to put off the old man more and more. Josh. 5:13ff. This is how we came to be our congregation of Christians here. —

Dear brother in the faith, you now wish to part from me again. Go and say: "I believe in the Holy Ghost, one holy Christian Church, the communion of saints." We carry on the mission work here in your place. But there is so much to do in this work that no one can do in your place. You yourself must believe in the Lord of the Church, you yourself must be obedient to his mission command and ask the Lord of the harvest to send laborers into his harvest, indeed you must help send them to him. So we lay it on your heart also to pray for us missionaries, also for the newly won Christians whom I have shown you today, that they remain faithful to the Lord, and for the heathen, that they convert and live. You must also not neglect giving. The mission to the heathen is a work in foreign lands and costs much.

Yet that shall not be my closing word.

Be it said to God's honor, his children at home have now already carried on our mission work for seventeen years. What you have seen today could only come about with their help. For this God has given us a mission board at home with a heart full of patience, love, caution, watchfulness, and courage of faith, so that only under such leadership could so much be achieved and won so far. But we give God alone the honor. Wherever we look, we are everywhere moved to confess: "The Lord hath done great things for us, whereof we are glad."

Vanihambadi.

R. Freche, Missionary.

The Committee for Heathen Missions hereby informs our Christians that the Heathen Mission Fund is at present not only empty but $2000.00 in debt. In addition, apart from the current expenses, such as the support of the missionaries in a heathen land entails, unavoidable larger expenses lie ahead in the near future. We ask earnestly and urgently for gifts and collections.

In the name of the Committee

L. Fuerbringer.

Some judgments on the public school system, and what we Lutherans should learn from them.

In the Ladies' Home Journal a sharp judgment on the public school system was recently to be read. The writer said among other things: "Is our public school system worth our upholding it? I think not. We must find something by which our children are actually reared." He bases his judgment first on the claim that in the public schools there can be no talk of real upbringing at all, and second by pointing to the lamentable result of such supposed upbringing, namely the lack of discipline and unchastity spreading everywhere among the American people.

The famous professor of Clark University, Dr. Stanley Hall, commonly called "The Child's Friend," who has made it his life's task to study "the child," said in a speech given before a large assembly of prospective male and female teachers, roughly the following: "I really feel sorry for all of you people. You now go out into the schools with rosy hopes; you believe your work will bring much blessing. You believe the welfare of the country depends on your work, for you will indeed help educate the youth. But I repeat, I feel sorry for you; for you cannot educate at all in the public schools, because God's Word is lacking. Your work will consist merely in forming the understanding of the youth entrusted to you. The only people in our country who understand how to educate children are the Lutherans and the Catholics in their religious schools."

So much for the judgments. What do we Lutherans now say to this, members, teachers, and pastors?

We mean briefly about the following. We members do not at all want to send our children to the religionless state school, which even capable American teachers and professors themselves regard as inadequate, indeed as dangerous