The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1933, Page 31

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THE LUTHERAN PIONEER

31

The astonished heathen was overpowered by the
glad Gospel news. Tears rolled down his cheeks,
and he left the meeting in order to meditate upon
the love of God which on that day had touched
his heart. In this love he found perfect peace and
rest for his soul.

“That’s Me.’’

A poor Hottentot in Southern Africa lived with
a man who had family prayers every day. One day
he read: “Two men went up into the Temple
to pray.”

The poor savage looked earnestly at the reader
and whispered: “Now I'll learn how to pray.”

The man read on: “God, I thank Thee that
I am not as other men are.”

“No, I am not; but I am worse,” whispered
the Hottentot.

Again the man read: “I fast twice in the week,
I give tithes of all that I possess.”

“IT don’t do that; I don’t pray in that way.
What shall I do?” said the distressed savage.

The man read on until he came to the publican,
who “would not so much as lift his eyes unto
heaven.”

“That’s me!” said the hearer.

“Stood afar off,” read the other.

“That’s where I am,” said the Hottentot.

“But smote upon his breast, saying, God be
merciful to me, a sinner.”

“That’s me! That’s my prayer!” cried the poor
creature; and smiting on his dark breast, he
prayed, “God be merciful to me, a sinner,” and,
like the poor publican, he went down to his house
a saved and happy man.

—eSSS=

What You and I Owe to Missions.

We owe it to missions that we are saved. If we
trace back our history, we shall find that somewhere,
perhaps in the distant past, perhaps not long ago,
a missionary brought the saving truth to our fore-
fathers or to us. The missionary was sent by Chris-
tians who already had found the truth. To them
and to the missionary we owe everlasting thanks;
for without their kindness we should have remained
in darkness and error, only to be placed on the left
hand on Judgment Day and to be condemned to
_ everlasting damnation with the rest of the un-
believers. :

But back of the missionary and the Christians
who sent him was our merciful God, who “will have
all men to be saved and to come unto the knowledge
of the truth,” 1 Tim. 2,4. Had it not been for Him,
no missionary would have brought us the truth, no
Christians would have sent a missionary. As it is,
God had determined long before we were ever
born — from eternity, in fact — that you and I were
to be saved; and so, when the time came, God car-
tied out His gracious plan: he caused Christians to
send us a missionary, who brought us the saving
Word of God and the Sacraments. — Committee on
Missionary Expansion.

NOTICE.

All friends of our Missions in Alabama will please
send donations of clothing or money to the undersigned,
who by instructions of the Missionary Board and by reso-
lution of the Alabama Pastoral Conference will allot and
disburse such donations with the needs of all stations in
view. Only in this way can a fair distribution be made.
By no means send money or clothing direct to individuals,
because these may have ceased long since to be members
in good standing in our churches, but still continue to
write mission friends begging-letters. To be sure that no
donations are missent or misspent, kindly communicate
with or send direct to the undersigned at Box 683, Selma,
Ala. Epwarp A. Westcott, Superintendent.

BOOK TABLE.
(By the Eprror.)

Pastoral Theology. A Handbook of Scriptural Principles.
Written especially for Pastors of the Lutheran
Church. By John H. C. Fritz, D.D. Concordia Pub-
lishing House, St.Louis, Mo. Buckram binding.
343 pages. Price, $3.25, postpaid.

The author frankly admits in the preface that he used
Walther’s Pastoraltheologie as a basis. But whatever he
has used from the German classic has’ been cast into a
mold which decidedly bears the Fritz trademark and is by
no means 2 mere translation. Much of what is found in
Walther’s Pastorale has been omitted as not fitting into
present conditions; then, too, many quotations of the
older book are not found in this new Pastoral Theology.

We were particularly interested in the new chapters of
the book, such as “he Christian Training of the Chil-
dren,” “The Spiritual Care of the Young People,” “The
Cure of Souls,” and “Preaching the Gospel to the Un-
churched.” An even cursory reading of the work will
bring home the conviction that we here have a very valu-
able book, which is destined to be extensively and perma-
nently useful to our Lutheran clergy and others. The
work is distinguished by the following outstanding qual-
ities: Comprehensiveness and fulness of plan, including -
all phases of the subject in well-balanced, proportion;
a deeply earnest and eminently Biblical manner of teach-
ing, combined with great clearness of thought and SSL Py
ful simplicity of language; the marks of thorough, varied,
and extensive wading an evident sincerity, which pen-
etrates the reader’s heart and leads him to look within
himself with searching self-examination; and an assur-
ance of the correctness of the enunciated principles that
carries conviction to the student of its pages. ‘e hope
that every pastor will deem the possession of this book
desirable and find it possible to have it upon his desk in
the near future.