The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1917, Sheet 77

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The Lutheran Pioneer

45

‘Though missions may not haye been yery prom-
inent in the first century of the Reformation, owing
to adverse circumstances, yet the mission-spirit was
there. As sure as.it is that Luther and his co-
workers again brought to life the apostolic faith,
so sure is it also that apostolic life and work had
to follow this revival. An evangelical Church must
be evangelistic; therefore, as sure as the Reformers
preached the Gospel, so sure did they also bring
home to their people the debt of duty*to bring the
glad tidings of salvation to a lost race. Of course,
after a millennium of sleep it was hard to arouse the
people sufficiently to see how millions were dying
without Christ, and to hear the ery of want and
woe walted by the winds from heathen lands. But
gradually, one by one, the people awoke to a sense
of their duty, interest in the glorious work increased,
and the missionary ideas of the Gospel were more
and more fully carried out. We may, therefore,
truthfully say that the world-wide missions of to-
day are the unfolding and development of principles
uttered by the Reformers four centuries ago.

: F. J. L.

oe

An Interesting Letter from Alabama.

August 13th to 17th the teachers and pastors
in the schools of Alabama held their Teachers’ Tn-
stitute at Oak Hill, Ala. The Institttte opened
Monday afternoon at 2.30, Rey. Bakke making the

opening address. The speaker based his remarks
on Luke 9,62, and showed that we have put our
hands to the plow as commanding officers in the
army of the kingdom of God, and are to instruct
the raw recruits in fighting the battles of the Lord.
__He alsq showed that looking back is the same as
being a “slacker,” that is, shirking our duty as
soldiers of the Cross, or expecting gain in this
world’s goods for fighting in the army of the Lord.
— After the opening address the new teachers were
examined and sessions closed until Tuesday morning.

The Tuesday morning session was opened with
devotional‘ exercises led by the Rey. Chas. Peay.
After the opening exercises Superintendent Bakke
delivered a very instructive lecture on “How To
Teach the Catechism.” By way of introduction he
showed that “it must be the object of every teacher
to impart to the child the chief doctrines of the
Christian religion, for this is the chief purpose of
our schools.” He showed that it is through the
schools that we make the best citizens, the best
men and women. In order to teach the Catechism

thoroughly and to the best advantage, the teacher,
of course, must be well acquainted with it himself,
and then he is to impart this knowledge to the
child. After the lecture the different points were
taken up and discussed by the various teachers.

The afternoon session was opened by Rey. Peay,
after which he delivered a very interesting lecture
on “Christian Discipline in the School.” Tn dis-
cussing this subject; he showed that, in, order to
maintain Christian discipline in the school, the
teacher must himself be a Christian, prepare his
work and ask God for wisdom, The subject was
discussed by the teachers with great profit to all.

Tuesday evening at eight o’clock the Rev. M. N.
Carter delivered a very timely and appropriate lec-
ture on “The Home-training of the Children.” He
dwelt on the “time for training,” “manner of train-
ing,” “kinds of training,” and the “purpose of train-
ing the child.” This subject was discussed with
great interest by the public.

The Wednesday morning session was opened by
Rey. Carter. After the devotional exercises, Super-
intendent Bakke delivered a lecture on “How to
Teach Bible History.” We were all greatly benefited
by the lecture, as well as by the discussion which
followed. The afternoon session was opened by Rey.
Carter, and then followed the highy instructive lec-
ture of Miss Rosa J. Young on “The Methods of
‘Teaching the Child to Read.” She discussed the
“Alphabet,” “Phonic,” “Sentence,” “Word,” and
“Eclectic” methods. We have not the time to point
out the advantages and disadvantages of each
method as they were brought out in the lecture;
suffice it to say that it wag finally agreed that the
“Welectic” method is the best to employ in teaching
the child how to read.

Wednesday evening at -eight o’clock the Rey.
Peay preached. His theme was, “A Great Famine
in the Land.” This famine, as he showed his
hearers, is the famine of the Word of God, because
it is not preached in its truth and purity as it
should be. (I have lost my notes on the sermon,
and so am unable to give you the parts or even the
text of the sermon. Kindly overlook the omission,
will you? ‘Thanks !)

The Thursday morning session was opened by
the undersigned, after which he gave a little talk
on “How to Teach the History of the Reformation
to the Children.” Well, the less said about this the
better, but we finally found a way-to tell the child
who the Pope is, and at the same time to tell him
something about Martin Luther. In the afternoon