The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1931, Page 191

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THE LUTHERAN PIONEER

191

look, and there she stood—-smiling. That smile
will never be erased from my memory. She had
given all and had done it willingly.

Back to the canning-factory she went that night,
an old woman, past eighty years of age, bent with
age and alone.

Now you understand what I mean by a mission-
ary by proxy. When the crowns are placed on the
heads of the saints, some stars from India will shine
in her crown. Yes, I must prove to be a very good
missionary investment, for she so loved that she gave
her all. Miss E. B. GAnpNEr,

in the Advent Review and Sabbath Herald.

A Painful Comparison.

The rector of an Eastern parish analyzed the
pledges of his people in terms of luxury expendi-
tures. The result could not have been pleasant, but
must have been thought-provoking.

There are 431 automobiles in the 408 families
of the parish. Forty families pledge less per year
than the cost of one tire.

Seven families are happy to contribute per week
no more than the cost of one soda.

Forty-six families prize their religion in terms
of less than half a pound of candy per week.

Twenty-two families are content with a weekly
gift of the cost of two and a half gallons of gas.
How far will the car go on that?

Fifty-one families count it a joy to subscribe per
week a sum equal to what many men spend for
smoking in one day.

Why go further? O yes. One hundred and
forty-five more families have pledged nothing.

What is wrong here? Simply the same thing
that is wrong in a good many churches. There is
a lack of the proper evaluation of the Church. The
amount of money spent for these various objects
indicates that whatever they may profess, these per-
sons value these or other things higher than the
Church. Many times this results from mere thought-
lessness. People did not think the subject of the
Church through. In other cases it is exactly the
index to their conclusions about the value of various
things in their lives. They consider that they should
belong to the Church, but there is no sense that the
most important thing in their life is the proper
telation to God, the spiritual upbuilding, which the
Church brings to them. Nothing is more seriously
needed in the Church than an education, teaching
the people what the Church is and means to them,

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to our country, to the world. So long as people put
other organizations and interests side by side with
the Church and make them of equal or superior
value and importance, we are going to have just this
condition that is indicated in this church in the
quotation above. We believe therefore that one of
the important functions of our office is the education
of the members as to the value and importance of
the Church. — Lutheran Companion.

BOOK TABLE.

Lutheran Annual, 1932. — Amerikanischcr Kalender
fuer d>ntsche Lutheraner auf das vahr 1932,
Editor: Rev. EB. Eckhardt. Concordia Publishing
Howe, Sv, Louis, Mo. 164 pages each. Price, 15 cts.
each.

Two old friends that should be greeted with delight.
One of these annuals should be in every home of the Mis-
souri Synod. The literary matter is instructive and edi-
fying; there are twenty-five pages of it. The article
giving the statistics of the Missouri Synod and of the
Synodical Conference should prove interesting reading
to every one. ‘The roster of all the pastors, professors,
and teachers in the Synodical Conference and the lists
of institutions of learning, publishing houses, religious
periodicals, institutions of charity, home-finding socie-
ties, etc., should prove of great value upon many occasions.

Missouri Synod Synodical Reports, 1931. No. 5.
Oregon and Washington District. 56 pages. Price,
33 cts. Doctrinal papers: “The Missionary Activi-
ties as Recorded in the Acts, Models for Present-day
Mission-work.” Die Bedeutung der Augsburgischen
Konfession fuer die Gegenwart. — No. 6. Sued-Wis-
consin-Distrikt. 93 pages. Price, 18 cts. Doctrinal
papers: Warum lalten wir trotz aller Fortschritte
und Veraenderungen fest an dem alten Evangelium?
“True Happiness.” — No.7. California and Nevada
District. 56 pages. Price, 21 cts. Doctrinal paper:
“Some Lessons of the Ante-Nicene Age.” — No. 8.
Texas-Distrikt. 74 pages. Price, 17 cts. Doctrinal
paper: Der achte Artikel der Konkordienformel:
“Von der Person Ohristi.’ Concordia Publishing
House, St. Louis, Mo.

Concordia Historical Institute Quarterly. October,
1931. Editor: Prof. W. G. Polack. Associate edi-
tors: Dr. Th. Gracbner and Prof. R. W. Heintze.
Subscription per year, $2.00, including membership
fees for a year. Order from Theo. W. Eckhart, 3558
S. Jefferson Ave., St. Louis, Mo.

A very valuable number. Contents: Personal Remi-
niscences of Walther and Wyneken; Unique Relics in the
Museum of the Institute; Herculean Labors for the Ex-
tension of Lutheranism in Minnesota; Documents Re-
garding Church Affiliation and Organic Union in the Lu-
theran Church of America; History of the Stockbridge
Indians and Our Mission among Them.

My Church and Others. By John Theodore Mueller.
Rudolph Volkening, Holland Building, St. Louis, Mo.
88 pages; limp cloth binding. Price, 75 cts.

We are not surprised that this publication is seeing
its second edition so soon. We know of no book better
adapted for the instruction of adults in the fundamentals
of the Christian religion. In its first part the principal
doctrines are treated in thirty chapters. Each chapter
has two subdivisions: “What We Believe” and “What We
Reject” concerning each doctrine treated. In the second
part the author gives a brief, but adequate descriptian
of the principal denominations and religious bodies of our
country, arranged in alphabetical order. The print and
type are clear; the binding is very neat and strong.