The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1924, Page 23

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The LIuitheran Pioneer.

23

more attention to their proximity to a market than
to the claimant needs of unevangelized tribes, or the
previous occupation of a district by some other
mission. And when they have established a com-
mercially successful mission, they are face to face
with grave questions, such as the dependence of
their converts on material things which come upon
the mission, and the absorbing pressure of the busi-
ness demands of the mission, which will not allow
the necessary thought or the time to be given to the
first things for which a mission stands.
Donald Frazer.

An Old People’s Home as a Missionary
Agent.

A. few weeks ago an aged woman died in our
Old People’s Home. She attained the ripe old age
of seventy-eight years. Over three years ago she
entered our Home. She had no relatives, and
friends could not be found to shelter her. Yet she
could no longer live alone as she had done for
twenty or more years past. Her strength was gone,
she was physically almost helpless, and she required
much care and loving supervision. And she was
able to “pay her way,” to bring to a Home an
entrance fee large enough to provide for her for
some years to come. Yet we hesitated to receive
her when application for her reception as a member
of our family of old people was made. Why did
we hesitate? Not only because we feared that she,
an Englishwoman, would not “fit in” well with our
old people of German descent, but particularly be-
cause she was not a Christian in the Scriptural
sense. She “rated” herself a Christian, *tis true,
as so many do, because she believed in “the system
of ethics” taught by Jesus, but she was not baptized’
in His name, nor did she accept Him as her divine,
her one and only Savior from the wrath of God,
from death and hell. Her reason would not permit
her to do that, she said, and although she had at-
tended many churches and examined their teach-
ings, her sin and God’s grace through Jesus had
never been revealed to her. ‘Thus she had reached
an old age and was still unbaptized, an unbeliever,
a skeptic.

No wonder our Board of Directors doubted the
wisdom of receiving her into a Christian home.
Would she not be a disturbing element in an at-
mosphere of peace and unity? Would she perhaps
endanger the faith of others? These were weighty

questions, and reason said, “Don’t take a chance.”
But over against reason there’ sounded the voice of
God in Scripture, saying: “As we have therefore
opportunity, let us do good unto all men,” and:
“Go ye therefore and teach all nations.” This de-
cided the question, and the applicant was received
into the Home.

Immediately physical as well as spiritual atten-
tion was given her. The essentials of our faith
were briefly set forth, and her promise to listen to
an extended course of Bible-study was secured. For
a period of almost two years she was instructed,
one doctrine of faith after the other was set forth
and proved from Scripture, until all chief doctrines
had been treated. She was a well-educated and
widely read woman of exceptionally keen mentality,
and her lifetime habits of thought and her attitude
of doubting unbelief made her rebel again and
again against our testimony. But God’s Word,
“a power of God unto salvation,” finally accom-
plished what no human power could have accom-
plished. At last her doubts were overcome, her
unbelief was dispelled, and she asked to be received
into the Christian fold through Baptism. And to
her dying day she rejoiced in the Good Shepherd,
who had made her His own. t

Lutheran Hospice Bulletin.

BOOK TABLE.

Verhandlungen der achtundzwanzigsten Versammlung
der Ey.-Luth. Synodalkonferenz von Nordamerika
zu Cincinnati, O., vom 16. bis zum 21. August 1922.
Concordia Publishing House, St. Louis, Mo. 56 pages.
Price, 40 cts.

We hope that the late appearance of this report of the
last convention of the Synodical Conference may not hin-
der its sale. For several reasons this particular report
should be widely read among us. In the first place, it is
the report of the convention which celebrated the semicen-
tennial of the Synodical Conference and contains the splen-
did jubilee sermon of President Gausewitz. Then there is
Prof. Meyer’s paper, “The Conflict in Defense of Our School
System.” Finally, the report brings a complete résumé of
the convention’s deliberations and resolutions concerning
our Negro Missions.

Special Problems of the Christian Day-School. Con-
cordia Publishing House, St. Louis, Mo. 137 pages.
Substantially bound in cloth. Price, $1.00, net.

Here is a very preckicel book, written for practical
teachers by practical schoolmen. Superintendent Buszin,
of Illinois, writes on The Status of the Christian Day-
school; Superintendent Seltz, of Iowa, brings a paper on

The Christian Day-school Plant and Equipment; Super-

intendent Grossman, of Wisconsin, has an essay on The

Present-day Tendencies and Their Influence on Our Schools ;

Superintendent Kuehnert, of Missouri, contributes an ar-

ticle on Our Christian Day-schools in Their Relation to

Other Educational Agencies; Dr. Kretzmann, the editor

of the Concordia Teachers’ Library, of which this book is

Vol. 8, has a chapter on The Up-to-date Christian Teacher.

It seems to us that this bill of fare ought to make the

mouth of every practical schoolman water.