The Baptist Herald A DENOM I NAT IONAL MONTHLY VOIC I NG THE INTERESTS OF TH E GERMAN BAPTIST YOUNG PEOPLE'S AN D SUNDAY SCHOOL WORKERS' U NION

Volume Two CLEVELAND, 0. , AUGUST, 1924

. R ev. L orenz H oeffner of I ngersoll, Okla . ( 01mril <YJ(ember fo1 the So11t lmmter11 ( oufermre

Number Eight

2 THE BAPTIST- HERALD

What's Happening Prof. B. E. Ebel of McPherson Col­

lege, Kans., has accepted a call as pro­fessor of Geiman at the Univer sity of Redlands, Cal. Bro. Ebel formerly served as pastor of our church in Boston.

Miss Anna Trieloff, missionary worker with our church in Los Angeles, Cal., has resigned to accept a s imilar position with the church at West Hoboken, N . J. She begins her new work in August.

Rev. J. F. Olthoff of Avon, S. D., was elected missionary secretary of the Da­kota Conference. He and Rev. A. W. Lang of Tyndall represent the confer­ence in the General Missionary Com­mittee.

Rev. A. Orthner has resigned as pastor of the church at Sheffield, Iowa . He takes over the pastorate of t he Bay City, Mich., church.

Miiss Anna Brinkmann, missionary of the Second Church, Cleveland, a nd Mrs. Em;rna Meier, missionar y in the SeconJ Church Philadelphia , were visitors at the Pa~ific Conference in Anaheim, Cal.

The promotion committee for Young People's Work in t he Dakota conference for the coming year consists of Brethren D. E ngbrecht of Fessenden, Rev. D. Klein of Eureka , and Ar thur Voigt of Avon. The br ethren make a good t rio of booster s. We look for this committee to be real active and not merely quies­cent .

Rev. Max Leuschner, pastor at Ana­heim, Cal., for the ·past eight years, has resigned his charge. H is plans for the f ut ure have not yet taken definite shape.

Mr. Carl Gieser, student of our sem­inary at Rochester, who proposed doing colporter work in t he bounds of the Da­kota conference during the summer months, was compelled to undergo an oper ation for appendicitis upon his a r­r ival in Avon, just befor e the opening session of the Dakota conference. The operation proved a success and the pa­tient was well on the road to recovery when the conference closed. Interest in his welfare was expressed by many pray­ers in his behalf and by a substantia l offer ing towar d defrayal of his hospital expenses. This fine exhibition of frater­

·nal helpfulness greatly cheered and touched Bro. Gieser .

At the East St. church, N. S., Pitt~­burgh, Pastor August F . Runtz baptized 6 Sunday school scholars-5 boys and a girl-on Sunday, June 8. The B. Y. P. U. held a lawn-fete on the church lawn The occasion was greatly enjoyed, not bnly by the peop~e of the church, but

Y the whole neighborhood especially by the children. '

Miss Alethea Kose has discontinued her la.hors a s missionary wo1·ker with the Bismarck, N. D., church with the end of July. Her inten~iims a1·e to pur­sue .further college studies in the fall, leading up to a degree.

Rev. A. ] . Heinrichs of American Falls, Idaho, had the joy of baptizing 10 con­ve_rts on the first Sunday of J une. Among the group were a number of adults , r anging from 40 to 70 years, former Lutherans and Catholics. Another bap­tismal service will be held in the near future. The Sunday school a tt endance has increased to 125.

Rev. Wm. Graf, pastor a t Bethany, Ore., was re-elected missionary secretary of the Pacific conference. Rev. J. A. H. Wuttke was elected alternate represen­tative to the General Missionary Com­mittee.

The church at New Kensington, P a., Rev. C. E. Cramer, pastor, has bought a new building site, advantageously lo­ca ted, 92x120 feet, for $13,000. On the r ear of the lot there is a dwelling house with 12 rooms, into which the pastor has already moved. The church will wait t ill next spring before beginning any build­ing operations a s it is expected to effect a considerable saving by such delay . The New Kensing ton people are a courageous bunch and we wish them great success.

The Sunday School Promotion Com­mittee of the Pacific Confer ence consists of Brethren C. E. Panke, M. Bohnet, Jr., a nd F . Berger. Bro. Panke presided ably at t he Sunday school instit ute at the confer ence. The committee has been busy during t he year. It reported a n increase of 89 scholars in the enrollment of t he schools of the conference, this in spite of the fact that several small schools in Idaho were disbanded during t he year.

The Missionary Offering raised at the Dakota Confer ence on Sunday afternoon, following t he missionary sermon by Rev. A. W. Lang, amounted to $1630.92, of which $1100 was in cash and t he rest in pledges.

Mr. Raymond Bueermann of Portland, Or e., was elected as secretary of the Pa­cific Conference branch of our Young P eople's U nion at Anaheim to succeed Roland Riepe, who r esigned. Mr. Bueer ­mann was also elected to represent t he Pacific Conference a s council member in t he nationa l organization. We regret to lose Bro. Riepe from our council. He was an energetic a nd enthusiastic work­er. -We trust he will s till keep in touch wit h our cause. Mr. Hellwig was r e­elected treasurer of the Young People's Union. Miss Elizabeth Ahrens of Ta­coma was elect ed a member of t he con­ference promotion committee.

Rev. A. Bretschneider, pastor of the Clinton Cill church, Newark, N . J., sailed on the S. S. "Ohio" on July 5 for a t~o mont~s. tour of Europe. He is plan­nmg to visit F 1·ance, Germany, Switzer ­land, Italy and England, retuming about Sept. 12. Before sailin g, his church pr e­sented him with a purse of $525. Prof.

· L. Kaiser will supply t he pulpit during July and August.

We are introducing Rev. Lorenz Hoeffner, pastor at Ingersoll, Okla., to t he " Herald" family on the front page t his mont h. Bro. Hoeffner is the repre­sentat ive of the Southwestern Confer­ence on the Council of our Young Peo­ple's and Sunday School Workers' Union. He was pastor at Waco before taking up the work in Ingersoll. His pastorate at the latter place has been ma rked by progress and success. Bro. Hoeffner has been a Joyal booster for the " Herald" and the gain in the subscriber list of the conference is in part to be ascribed to his effor ts . He is a young p eople's man a nd a young people's friend.

Prof. Eduard B. Scheve, well known in our German Ba pt is t circles a s a com­poser and organi st of repute a nd of late years professor of music in Gr innell Col­lege, Iowa, died suddenly a t Longmont , Colo., a fter an operation on June 00. Prof . Scheve had been spending the last year and a half in some of our churches in t he East and Middle West a nd in­tended to take up his work at t he col­lege again thi s fa ll after resting in the mountains of Colorado. His dea th will be mourned by a wide circle of friends. Our sympathy i s extended to Mr s. Scheve.

The terrific windstorm, cyclonic in character, that swept over a consider­able part of South Dakota on t he eve­ning of June 14, leaving death and de­vastation in its \yake, almost wiped out the town of Wessington Springs. Our German Baptist church there, erected only a few year s ago, was totally de­stroyed. It cost $4500 to build. Nearly all t he barns and outbuildings of the members of the church were a lso de­stroyed. F raterna l help in rebuilding ought to be extended to our stricken people. ·

(Cont inued on Page 16)

The Baptist Herald Published mont hl y b y t he

C.I::lDIAN BAPTIST PUBLICAT[QN SOCIETY 380~ Payne Avenue Cleveland , Ohio

A. P . Mihm, Edi tor •

Cont rilrn 1 ing Editors

0 . E. Krueger A. A. Schade Pau l W engel G. W . Pust

H. von Berge Mrs. R. E. J-l oeffii n " The Bapt is t H erald" is a denomination al

periodical devoted to the interests of the Gc:rman Baptist You nir People's and Sunday School V\'orkers· U nion at the subscription price of

$1.00 a Year. ( 12 cents additional to foreign countries)

Advertising rates, ~O cents per inch single column, 2 1,6 inches wide.

All editorial correspondence is !O be. addres sed to Rev. A. ·p, M ihm, 7348 Madison S t. , f orest Park, Ill.

A ll business correspondence lo German Bap. List Publication So ciety, 3804 Payne Avenue, Cleveland, Ohio.

Entered as second-class matter Jan ua ry 9, I 923, at the post office at Cleveland, Ohio, under the

ac t of March 3, 1879.

Aa-ugst, 1924 3

The Baptist Herald Joy and Youth

T HAT it a fine Bible verse that contai!1s t he summons : " Rejoice, 0 yo ung man, m thy

youth; and let t hy hea_rt cheer thee in tl~e days of thy youth, and walk . m the ways of t h me heart, and in t he sight of thme e~es ; b_ut know ~hou , _ that for all t hese t hings God will brrng thee .mto J Ud~­ment." H ow often th e last par t of th is ve~·se is given the chief em phasis and the first y art light ly passed over as if it needed n? e~phas1s . ~he l~st part of the verse is determmative and directive but not a deterrent . The ver se is not a tr a p to lure t he unwar y into a bottomless pi t of r etribut ion ; not a whip with a scor pion at t he end of it to hurt, but the plain, fearless, em phatic pr oclamation of one of t he very noblest truths th at r eveals G?d and exalts man. It tells us that joy is both a priv­ilege and a duty of th e soul. "Rejoice in the Lor d and again I say, r ejoice."

Joy is r easonable and becoming, necessary a nd unspeakably helpfu l. If it is becoming in all of us, how charming and suitab le is joy in the young! All young things ar e full of joy and God who made them mea ns them to be.

F or young people, life has as yet but few cares, conscience but few stains, memor y but few dis­appointments, r eason but few problems. Childhood is behind them and manhood a nd wom anhood in front of them and joy is not only natura l but sui t­a ble. Every yo ung per son likes to have, and ought to have, a good time . God himself wan ts us to be happy and joyous, for he is spoken of as : he "happy God," and we ar e made in his likeness.

Joy and Our Religion

GOD does not wan t us to go through life heavy­

eyed and h eavy-hearted, gloomy and glum. That would be a poor commendation for t he r e­ligion of the Lor d J_esus, wh ich we profess. W hen God sent his Son mto the world, the a ngel an­nouncemen t of his comingdcot!ldt~ined fth e metss.age,; "Beh old, I bring yo u goo I mgs o grea. JOY. Tell it out everywhe~·e ~o co_nfu~e th~ sland~1 of t h e

·ld that th e Christian life 1s a Joyful hfe, t hat ~o~oe~ not ask for the dwarfin g of. the no_rmal_ in­ti t f our manhood but for thell' g lorification . ~:i.~s~i:nity is not a drab-co lored religion_. T~e _gos-

l · banquet of joy. Jesus began h is m1mstr y pe. is a in a wedding. There he performed his by att~nd

1 g The kingdom of God is r ighteousness,

first mirac e. S · ·t d ·0 y in t he Holy pm .

peace an J . f 1- · · · d Much of the world's notion o re 1g1on ~~ n:1x.e

u with loom and sadness. Even some o e!w1se P d g l whose nature seems to contarn an

good ·peopoeu,nt of austerity and sternness, shy at un ue am

joyousness a nd regard it with suspicion. Dr. W a t­kinson tells a stor y of a certain invalid woman who could not bear the visits of her pastor because he was " so cheerful." If he had entered her sick­chamber with the mien of an undertaker, it might have pleased her more. But that impresses us as morbid a nd not normal. There is something lack­ing in the Christianity of the person wh o cannot heartily enjoy himself. The godly life does not inhibit one good thing. The church of God fro wns on no wh olesome joy, only on those corrupting and dish onor ing excitements which are cont r ar y to health a nd r eason, to virtue and the r eal joy of lif e.

Some people h ave just enough religion to make th em miserab le. The cure for such an unhappy state is not less religion but more,-more of the genuine kind , t hat · bear s the brand and imprint of the spirit of Christ . That spir it showed itself in th e upper r oom and it was ther e that Jesus said : " These things have I spoken to you that my joy may be in you and that your j oy may be fulfilled ."

All d eep r eligion ought to be joyful. All strong r eligion assuredly will be. What the sunshine is to the landscape, the ligh t of joy is to the human life . Deprived of a just measure of br ightness life fails to attain the ideal.

We hold that joyousness of spirit is the natural heritage of a ll wh o fear God, believe on Christ and work righ teousness. It is a lso their strength and salvation. Let us claim and acquire our h er itage.

Spurious Joys

T HE Devi l is the most expert counter feiter in t he universe . T he prince of darkness can

tr ansform himself into the semblance of an angel of light to deceive even the elect. Satan deludes h is dupes into t he mistaken notion that they ar e en­joying life while feeding their souls with h is fancied and false joys. The disguise of sin de­ceives m any. The deceitfulness of sin is st ill a t wor k. The eyes of many ar e blinded thereby as to t he true nature and t he r eal value of things.

Joy in youth seems most easy and natura l, but it is a lso t he period of life when it needs directing and steadying. It is a time when one must choose wisely and pr ove t h e things that differ. There a r e many harmful pleasures lur ing our young people today that seem innocent b ut they have a danger ­ous backfir e. Th ey dull the Christian life and take away th e joy of salvation. They wind up in re­morse, loss of self-respect, shame, disrepute, death. Avoid the joys of the frivolous and thoughtless those who merely live on the surface, who neve; remember the right proportion of things. There is a laughter of fools which is as the cracking of thorns under the pot.

4

We do not deny t hat many of these world ly pleasures are fascinating and attractive. Th"e devil is a wise fisherman. He is old at t he gam e. H e puts out the most enticing bait. But beneath t he tempting bait is the deadly hook. .

How shall we judge and discriminate between spurious and real worthwhile j oys, Christ ian j oys? Well, a yo ung Christian must maint a in his spiritual­mindedness. That must be unspiritual which causes compunction of conscience in t he quiet hour, causes unhappiness of so ul and keeps us back from spir­itual work and Christian fellowship. That is to be avoided which brings about such results:

If our life is cent ered upon th e things th at perish , we will have no r eal abiding joy. If it is cen ter ed on character, virtue, service, th e attainment of ideals, if our r ecreations are r e-cr eations th at help to build us up along these lines, we will h ave j oy because we w ill h ave abiding satisfaction and peace.

Editorial Jottings OVER 1500 COPIES of the G. B. Y. P . U. song

composed by Bro. Reuben Windisch have been sent out to different societies and state associations from our office in response to the free off er to supply this song to applicants. Every young people's group throughout th e land ought to get a cquainted with this stirring song and use it frequently. Paste the song sheet in the rear part of yo ur hymn books and so conserve the leaflet for continuous use. W e still have a supply of these song leaflets on h and and will be glad to send you sufficient for society use. Address Box 4, Forest Park, Ill.

PASSING BY a suburban church near Chicago, we saw this invitation on the bulletin-board : "Come to church. There you find God, gladness and good friends." That is a superb trinity to acquire. How much life is enriched by communion with t hem! We need them in the summertime just as much as during the rest of the year.

WE REGRET that arrangements for beginning with the devotional topic page could not be com­pleted in time to have the same appear in t his number. We beseech the patience of our r eaders who are anxious for these topics for anot her month .

FINDING THE FOLKS WIN IFRED H. MYERS

Shall we all launch out on a delightful quest Of "finding folks"-the very best,

For what is more fascinating, I ask your mind Than to get up close to human kind?

Now the very best place from which to start Is right down deep in your very own heart.

First test your pulse beat-Is it true? Are you living four-square as you ought to do?

Ia the Gospel according to you worth while? Does it give the right message, carry the style

Of a real, true Christian whose life is sincere

THE BAPTIST HERALD

That can fight the good fight-conquer all wrong,

Then with our own hearts aglow with earnest en· deavor

Let's all join forces and work together To bring to our Unions the Youth. of the land.

Let's increase our membership-be an army grand.

Expecting g rea t thing~ froI? our Father above, Attempting great thmgs m the name of Love.

How shall we find these folks you ask? Why that is not a difficult task.

There are many young people within your church walls ·

Wh are only waiting for your calls. Now t:ll me this-Honor Bright! How many folks

did you invite . ? To attend your Union last Sunday m ght.

It' the personal invitation that always draws, ~nd the coldest heart invariably thaws.

Now please, may I right her: say That this is the most effective way l

To increase your membership however sma:l Until you are crowded up close to the wa .

Now do not expect just one ~r ~wo To have the pleasure of brmgmg ?' fe-:-V·

But let each member of each orgam zahon. Have the pleasure of that warm sensation

Of finding folks, lonely and sad. And almost immediately makmg them glad,

By introducing them to folks you know. Their hearts will rejoice . They'll tell you so.

When folks come into your church to s tay, Get in touch with them right away,

Invite them to your Union meeting . And see they have a cordial greeting, .

And make your meetings the very best km~ . Tha t w ill grip their heart as well as their mmd,

Then they'll begin inviting friends they know, And Lo! your Union has begun to grow!

Next get a lis t from your pastor or clerk. Of a ll the young people within your k1r~, e

You may find some folks in your membership ther Who h a d not the courage-did not dare

To attend a meeting of your B. Y. P. U. W ithout a sp ecia l invitation too.

A third place where folks may be found, d Is wher e you work-right on your own groun •

Do you always know where your business friends go

On Sunday nights? Perhaps to a show. They would be glad for your invitation, .

Very likely you'd have a large delegation. Introduce them to our very best Friend,

Then friendship for you would have no end.

And holds God's friendship as a treasure dear? We grant, we're not perfect, but let's do our best

To make our own lives stand the test

N f . d 1 , b · · ht w on this search ow, r1en s, et s eg1n rig no Of finding folks for our church,

Of real Christian living, courageous and strong,

Be full of the Spirit of Christ and our task Then our goal will be realized. What more could

we ask?

Agugst, 1924

Judgement

That Act of God Whereby He Vindicates His Righteousness, Manifests the Character of

Men and Makes that Final Assignment of Them in Which there is Cor·

respondence between their Outward and Inward

Condition

0. E. KRUEGER

What the " All this have I seen in my days of Preacher Saw vanity,'' said " The Preacher" of

old, "there is a r ighteous man that perishes in his righteo usness, and ther e is a wicked man that prolongeth his life in his evil-doing" (Eccl. 7 :15). "There is a vanity which is done upon the earth, that there a r e righteous men unto whom it happeneth according to th e work of the w icked; again ther e are wicked men to whom it ha ppeneth according to the work of th e righteous. I said , that a lso is vanity" (Eccl. 8 : 14) . It cannot ever be thus! The tab les must be turned. God must be just. Jes us expressed th e conviction of the human r ace, deepened by age, in that simple and pr ofound parable of Dives and Lazarus. Man's sense of justice demands just that : Lazar us in misery h er e, in comfort ther e ; Dives in luxury here, in distr ess ther e.

The Judgment But while t h at day of final vindi­T hat Now Is cation and separ ation still lies in

t h e future, ther e is going on now a spiri tua l j udgment of light. " And t his is the j udg­ment that ligh t is come into th e world, and men loved the darkness rather than the light; for their works were evil" (John 3 :19). "Now is the judg­ment of t his world" (John 12 :31 ) . A divine spir­itual court is in session n ow. The "Light of the World" is on the judgment seat, r evealing the character of m en. He cam e n ot to condemn the world but to save it. But how h is presence did pass judgment on the lives of men. In th e mir~·or ~f his pure unselfish life ~hey saw their own. uglmess and became angTy . His presence today is as a ~ard­stick whereby we measure our own shortc~mmgs. We ar e told that coal-miners call the yardstick t h e i udge. Peter stood before this judge and said in ~elf-condemnation : "Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinfu l man." As the magnet so does the Son of righteousness draw the one and leave t~e other. "E:veryone that doeth evil, hateth the hght and cometh not to the light, lest his works should be reproved. But h e that doeth the truth come~h to the light that his works may be made manifest, that th ey have been wrought in God" (John 3: 20. 21). The sun hardens the clay but softens the pitch; it calls for t h the birds of song and .sends the owls into h iding. Every day is a day of Judgment. Steel is tested by t he sparks that fly from it when ground on th e emery wheels. Nothing like frict ion or adversity t o reveal our mettle!

5

The Judgment Sympathy is a balm to the wound­to Come ed heart of one who has been

wronged by the miscarriage of human j ustice. Better be in prison a nd have your fellow men say : "What an outrage!" than to be a t large and h ave everybody think: " That fellow ought to be behind the bars." But all we may say about th e compensations that now are, man's sense of justice is n ot satisfied, it requires t he_adjustmen t beyond the veil. "It is appointed unto man once to die, and after that the judgment ."

The Books " I saw t he dead, the great and the And the Bail small, standing before t he throne:

and the book was opened, and another book was opened, which was the book of life; and the dead were j udged out of the things which wer e written in the books according t o their wor ks" (Rev. 20:12. 13) . Some mighty men of vice are at large and we sometimes wonder as did J ob: "Wherefore do the wicked live, become old, yea, wax mighty in power?" Why does not God call th em into judgment? "Fret not thyself be­cause of evil doers, neither be thou envious against them that work unrigh teousness, for they shall soon be cut down like the grass, and wither like the g r een herb" (P s. 37 :1. 2). God does n ot even re­q uire bondsmen to give bail for s~rety th~t they appear at th e proper time. From his nemesis t here is no escape. Stones or God's judgment will deal :With accom­Stubble plishments as well as wit h persons.

Every man's work must pass thro~gh the "fire test." It is possible to erect a destructible superstructure upon a solid foundation. You may even build wood, hay, st ubble upon the '~Rock . of Ages." Reward comes only to him who. bmlds with gold, silver, precious stones. The bml.der whose work is burned suffers the loss, but he himself may be saved "yet so as through fire." The Set of At the final judgment the process of The Sail separation will be comp.let ed, God's

righteousness will be ~amfest~d, char­acter will be revealed and men will be assigned to their places. Let us abide by the simple st a tement of Christ regarding the final judgment. ~eople will be separated like sheep from goats without the possibility of an error on the part of the judge. They will be separat ed according t o t he nat ure th ey have acquired. Each class will go t o its own place just as Judas went to his own place. His ad­vantages as a Jew and his privileges as a disciple of Christ did not transform his life. Envir onment is only half the ti·uth, the other half is set fort h in these lines :

One ship sails East and one sails W est By the self same wind that blows,

I t's the set of the sail and 1~ot the gale T hat deterniines the way it goes.

Being let go Peter and John came to t heir own company . All will come to t heir own pla ce, not because of favoritism or cruelty on t h e part of the judge, but because each must arrive at the end of a self-chosen course. "These shall go into eternal punishment, but th e r ighteous into eternal life."

6

For Ecclesiastes

In the middle of our Bibles we find a book that has brought perplexity to many Bible-readers. It has caused ma ny a careful Bible-r eader to shake his head and inquire : How can the gloomy state­ments of this book be br ought into ha r­mony with other parts of the Holy Scriptures? Even many of the old Rab­bis were bewildered and confused by the t eachings of this book and knew not what to make of it. Some of them dis­puted over the question at the time of Christ a s to whether t he book was in­spired.

It is certa in that E cclesiastes or The Preacher has been a dilemma to many interpreters both of former days as well as of the present time. Many have labored hard to harmonize the rema rk­aJile expressions of t his book with the general t enor of Scriptural t eaching. l s this book with i ts r epeated emphasis of the futility a nd frailty of human exist­ence only the gloomy brooding of a dis · appointed doubter, t he labor of a fretful Hebrew philosopher, composed in a mo­rose mood and r epresenting t he la st ex­t r eme of scepticism '? Is the Preache r with his reiterated word , "All is vanity" t he oldest poet of that world-weariness (V.'eltscbmerz) prevalent in our day, t he for erunner and interpreter of that pes­simism, which asserts : In human lifo misery and misfortune predominates and non-existence is better than existence. Some who highly value other parts of the Bible speak derogatory of this book and say i t offers no r ea l satisfaction to the religious requirement . Much is con­fessedly not in agreement wit h ot her parts of t he Bible. "Be not righteous overmuch" (7:16) . See 9 :2 ; 3 :19. 20. Lut her says : " This book ought to be completer. It has n either boots no r spurs; it r ides in socks just a s I d id, when I was st ill in t he cloister."

What shall we make of t his book ? Ii is in our Bible a nd t h e J ewish as well as t he Christ ian church have r eceived it into the canon, i. e. the collection of books regarded by them as inspired by t he Spir it of God. How a r e we to estimate i~? What is t he divine int ent , t he spe­cial message t hat it would bring us ?

The Book of th e Natural Man

Here is a devout expositor who ex­presses the following theory a bout t he ?00k. He says : Man is exhibited here ~n every mood and s ituation as ponder ­~ng the .great question, which h as also

een r aised by the wise men of other peoples a nd t imes: "What is the h " h i good?,, F 1g es

. · or wh at shall man labor to ga.m t rue profit? What is t he noblest ~h1~g under the sun ? This book is t he hoo of t he natural man. It shows us how ~an, standing before nature a nd

ei: riddles, before God and his mys­tenes c~n on.ly attain to half-truths a nd to fleetmg mconsistencies without t he

THE BAPTIST HERALD

Bible Study knowledge of the divine purpose in t he universe and in history. This expositor goes on to say tha t the literature of the world offer s evidence that Ecclesiastes is the book of the na t ural ma n. It r e­veals the seed a nd t he germs of many modern investigations concerning man and his destiny. Here you already can find t he fatalism, the world-disgus t , t he despair that you find in Shakespea re's Hamlet, in Goethe's F aust and other modern works. There is no r edeeming power in one or the other. God has pre­served this book for us to convict us of our vanity, to convince us of our s in. The book is to awaken a desire for a highe~ revelat ion, so that we may t urn yearmngly toward t he light . The book is to be a tutor t o bring us unto Christ, t o lead us to him who is the righteous God. . So runs t his theor y. It h as much i n its fav? r but it does not seem qui te just and fair to t he book as i t tear s i t out of it s historical connection and judges 1t more from the New Testament viewpoint th an from the Old Testament one.

An Attempt at the Riddle of L ife It seems to us as if this book as f a r

a s its contents are concerned ' rela tes itself to the book of J ob and Hice it at­t empts a solution of the r iddle of life. J us t as the form of the book of J ob con­sists of a dialogue between J ob and h is friends in which t he problem is ar gued pro and con, so Ecclesiast es is a spiri t ual drama of more ser ious nature. We have here a discussion, a n exchange, an utter­ance of thought and opinion between the higher a nd the lower nature in man. We listen to the two voices of t he soul, t he despondent and the g lad, the lower and t he higher. It is a conflict of the two principles t hat are described in Ro­mans 7.

Two basic t houghts, supplement ing each other, run t hrough the enti re book.

1. The negative collective irnpression of .t~e experiences of lif e.. All huma n act1v1ty revolves in a wearisome r ound. The: e is an everlasting sameness. Its vanity cannot satisfy the spir it . Thi s despond.ent feeling about t he fut ilit y and t he pen shableness of all exist ence as it appear s to t he observer expresses itself in such statements as : "Then I looked on all the works t hat my hands had wrought and on t he labor t hat I had labored to do; a nd, behold a ll was van­ity and a striving after wfnd, an d t here was no pr ofit under the sun" (2 : 11) . " So I hated life ; because t he work t hat is wrought under the sun was grievous to me ; ~or ,,all is vanity and a striving after wmd (2 :17) . See also 2 : 23 · 3:~9; 4 :23; .9 :2. So speaks the lowe; v?1~e, the vo.1ce of doubt, of gloomy pes­s1m1sm,_ w~1ch would measure every event 1r_i 11.fe a fter t he principles of human Justice a nd runs t he ri sk of be­coming dissatisfied with t he providence of God. In murmuring against God, it

den ies his compensating righteousness and finally sinks down in enervating apathy.

2. Over against this the higher, better, believing voice asserts itself. This fin­ally draws the positive conclusion from a ll obser vations to fea r God and to keep his commandments as the end of all the matter .

This voice causes the Preacher to say in spit e of all oppression and violence : " For one higher t han the high r egardeth and t her e be h igher t ha n t hey" ( 5 : 8) . Or , "Say not thou, Wha t is t he ca use that t he for mer days wer e better than these '? fo r t hou dost not inquire wisely concerning this" (7: 10). In the days of adver sity consider: God hath made t he one s ide by side with t he other (the day of prosperi ty) . (7 :14. ) See also 7 :20 ; 7: 29; 8 : 12.

This voice does not speak of the use­lessness of all endeavor s. It dir ects it­self against avar ice and sel fi sh riches but also tells us, the noblest and safest way of investing ones r iches is to exer ­cise broadminded love. "Cast thy bread upon t he water s for thou shalt find i t afte r many days. Give a portion to ~even, yea, even to eight . In t he morn­ln!5 sow thy seed, a nd in the evening ;~ 1thhold not thine h and" (11: 1. 2. 6) .

Remember a lso thy creator in t he days of thy youth or ever t he evil da ys come" (12 :1). "Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter ; fear God and keep his commandments" (12 :13. 14). In the fear: of God we realize the bright side of life.

I s Life Worth Living?

If we look deep enough into this book we note t he au thor does not so much treat the question, l s life worth living? but rat~e: t he question, What lif e is wor~h ti-i:ing? The splendor of Solo­mon. s r~1gn a ppear ed to the later Is­raelites hke a golden period. The author lets t he wise k ing appear like a voice £~om.the grave (1:12) , lets him describe h is life and doings, makes us hear his confessions a nd expla nat ions t hat the gl?ry of his day was only a g littering n11ser y a nd that true happiness and sa­t isfaction is to be found in something altoget~er different t ha n those things for wh ich Solomon's time was envied. "Under the sun" is one of t he cha racter­istic expressions of the book. Under t he sun t here is nothing new, nothing real. T rue life is beyond the passing world, in t he new heaven and the new earth, which God will create.

This gener al t ruth is proven by the per sonal experiences, t h e dra matic biog­raphy of Solomon. We have successive fac-sim iles of himself. It is pointed out how t his king, who had oppor t unity for it as no other, hastened from one t hing to another; became by t ur ns t he man of

(Continued on Page 8)

Agugst, 1924

The The Job Without Pay

Emc W. MElLAHN

I thank thee, L ord, for the thankless job,

The j ob withoitt any pay :-T he job that makes weary, the job of ten

dreary, Th e job of t he Sabbath day.

l thank thee, L ord, for the 71recious lives Entrusted into my care :-Those lives in my keeping, whose souls

onwm·d sweeping, For Eternity I may pre71are.

ll teaches m e to be humble, tli-is job, And on thyself to r ely ; [,est I should bitt fail t hee when desires

assail me From thee and my job lo f111 ·

!Jut I woulcl be 'Willing, 0 Lorcl, ancl 7Jerf orm

This job assigned unto me, F or the business is thine, but tho job it is

mine--And thus I co-work with thee.

Than k/ill I am for the unpaid job This job of. t he Sabbath clay, ' For the s1mle of 11iy L ord is s1tfficient

reward-! can think of no greater pay.

A Boys' Class That Studied Their Bibles

Getting pupils to study t heir lessons is a perennial problem for Sunda y school t eachers. Here is a bit of exper ience that shows one good way to do it espe­cially if t he teacher has a chance' to be­gin early.

F our lit tle boys, just promoted from the P r imary Department of the Sunday school, were ent rusted to a teacher whose hobby was the Bible as a textbook. The fi r st Sunday she gave each boy a Bible for his own. That day she taught the boys to find the book from which the Sunday school lesson was being drawn a t t hat time, and also to find the chapter and ver se. At the end of the lesson hour she handed to each boy a sheet of paper upon which she had written the t itle of the lesson for t he following Sunday, t he refer ence to the verse of its " Golden Text ," and the r eference to its lesson t ext. She had also written on each boy's paper eight or t en questions upon th<! lesson, t ogether with t he number of t he severa l ver ses where the answer s might be found.

That week she visited every home r epresented in the class, and suggested to the mothers that she wished t he boys to prepa re their lessons for t he class.

E ver y Sunday the teacher asked for the title of t he lesson, the Golden Text, and t he answers to the questions. She a lso dr ew upon a ll her resources to make the lesson hour attractive. Every Sun­day she gave out fresh, homemade lesson­leaves similarly prepared. No other Jes-

7

Sunday School son helps were used by the boys. If a boy was absent , she either sent his les­son to him by a neighbor boy, or called at his home 'vith i t. She frequent ly visit ed the mothers.

All but one of the boys made a regula r prepar ation as t hey would have done for a secula r school , and even that boy was usually pr epar ed. In class, after the lesson, drill in committ ing the books of ~he Bi?le was given, and also pr actice In findmg verses in par t s of t he Bible.

This pla n was followed closely for several mont hs, at the end of which time it was discontinued, because t he class had grown so large that t he prepar ation of the lesson-leaves was impr act icable. The boys wer e established in the h abit of studying th eir Sunday school lesson, and they had alr eady become mor e familiar with their Bibles and mor e skillful i n using them than many classes of high ­school students .

This class was what was called a "mis­s ion class." None of their parents wer e member s of the chur ch, or even attend­a nt s upon its ser vices. They wer e for ­eigners of the better class. Thr ough the boys' inter est in th e Sun day school, and by means of occasional picnics and so­~ial.s, to which t he mothers were always mVIted, some of the mother s wer e in­fluenced to at tend church from time to time.-S. S. World.

Come Out of the Basement H ALFORD E. L UCCOCK

The wor st sins a re always those com­mitted against childr en . It is against t he c~ildren of t he c~urch t hat building committees and a rch itects have s inned most gr ievously. The Sunday school packed away in a deep basement is an abomination unto t he Lord. Jesus set the child in the midst. Alas! that so often we have set him in the cellar !

J esus said, "Suffer l ittle children to come unto me." In our thoughtlessness we frequently use an abbr eviated for m of those great words an d say " Suffer lit tle children !" And we see to it that t hey do suffer. Frequently th is is only ~he. r esult of thoughtlessness. Sometimes 1t 1s th~ r esult of a diabolical striving for efficiency. Oh, what cr imes ar e com­mi tted in that name! An aggressive building committee says : " Her e is a p er­fectly good cella r. W hy not use it for the Primary Depar tment? The woman's class would make too much of a kick but we can put it over on t he childr en. They a re not old enough to kick."

Such a use of the church basement is almost an unforgivable sin. It is a sin against light, a sin against health, a sin against beauty. Recently we inspected a church which had been made over at considerable expense. One of the "im­pr ovements" was a deepening of the basement so that basketball could be played during the week. On Sundays t he P rimary Department descended to

~his deep cave. It reminded us of noth­m g so much as the pit in which his br?t her s threw the young J oseph. A child's first r eligious impressions- and t hese a r e frequently the most lasting­a re made . by the sur roundings in the Sunday school. These should be the most attractive, certainly as far a s t he "\1se o~ those gr eat gifts of God- light a nd a1r-are concerned. The child must not be allowed to feel that he occupies the ser vants' quar ter s in the house of the Lord. A r ecent play was entitled " Come Out of the Kitchen ." Let th~ next gr eat Sunday school movement bear a similar slogan: " Come out of the base­ment!"- The Officer. ·

The Model Class M eets the teacher regularly a nd cheer­

fully. O beys th e teacher willingly a nd lov­

ingly. D rinks in t he truth eagerly and earn­

estly. E nter s the schoolroom quietly and

thoughtfully. Learns t he lessons conscientiously and

t horoughly.

C o-operates with the teacher actively and prayerfully.

L ives the truth consistently and influen­t ially.

A pplies the lessons practically and profitably.

S tudies the lessons carefully and com­pletely.

Storms the post of opposition br avely · and successfully.

The Baptist Teacher.

Something in This for Superin­tendents

"Please read me the poem you are r eading, mother," begged a little boy sweetly.

"But I am afraid it's too old for you dear ," his mother answered. "I'm afraid you wouldn't be able to understand it."

"Oh, yes, I would," was the calm an­swer, "so long as you didn't t ry to ex­plain ."-Washington Star .

A Much-Needed Epitaph Her e Lies The Teacher Who Spent Her Life T rying to Teach in

Spite of Interruptions from the

Sunday school Superintendent and the

Department Superintendent and the Secretary

and the Treasurer and Talkative Visitors.

It Was Good Discipline for Her, But by the Time

She Was Disciplined She Was Dead.

-Illinois Trumpet Call.

8

Ecclesiastes (Concluded from Page 6)

pleasure, the scientist, the fatalist the materialist, the sceptic the Epic~rian ~he stoic, but when he ~eached his goal'. 1t was only vanity and vexation. He applied his heart to search out by wis­dom a ll that was done under heaven. Solomon excelled in wisdom above all men . . (1_:16.) But wisdom which only occupies itself with earthly things is not ~nt?uche? by earthly vanity. The world m its wisdom, even Solomon's wisdom did not come to know God. '

When man turns to pleasure and sen­sual delights and expects to find happi­ness there, or in many other things, the final conclusion is the same; there is the collapse of utter disappointment; it does not pay, it does not compensate for all the travail and g rief connected with these things ; it does not satisfy t he heart in which God has set eternity. (3 :7 margin.) A careful study of t h is book shows how one ma sk after another is taken from lif e a nd underneath is found a deathface a nd on the coun tenance the hopeless word: All is vanity. The world is not big enough for the immortal soul of man.

The End of the Matter

After all has been heard, what is the end, the conclusion of the matter? "Fea r God and keep his commandments · for this is the whole duty of man." This is ~ot "va!lity of vanities." This never fa ils ID bless1Dg. H appiness is not in a life of me~e gratification, but in a life of ethical action. God is the soul's good portion ~nd the only source of a ll blessedness is m whole-souled obedience to the will of G?d. Keep his commandments and t hey will keep you. The most sp lendid out­ward situation can work no true happi­nGess . . Man who separates himself from

od lives only a fragmentary life. The book recognizes human ignorance

more fully than any other work in the sacre~ canon, says Dr. C. H. Wright . ~ut it recognizes also that there is a J~dgment coming which will finally dis­sipat e that darkness. "The book may be re~rded a s a cry for light , suitably stirred up by the Holy Spirit, who ever broods over the chaos of man's ig nor­ance and designed fitly to precede the New Testament r evelat ion of the Light of the world and t he victor over the grave."

F rom beginning to end of t his book God _has given us an Old T estament veri­fication of t he eternal t r uth: " And t he world passeth away and the lust thereof · but he that doeth t he will of God abideth forever " (1 John 2 : 17) .

A. P . MI HM .

Down On It a n d Why "M en are down on what t hey are not

~P on," said a distinguished minister ID a recent sermon. W Was he not right in his diagnosis?

hat has been your observation ? Have 'i:·u not found yourself opposed to cer­

mh. things simply because you knew not mg about them?

A Great Baptismal Service

Sunday, June 22, was for the little city of Herreid, S. D., "Ba pt is t Day." Pas t?r H. G. _Bens hacl arranged fo r a ba ptisma l ser vice which took p lace about half a mile south of Herreid on t he Meagher-Scbirber ranch. The weather ~as ideal and. so was the place of bap­tism, ~ certam part of Spring Creek wher~ it U;tkes a curve widening out to the d1mens1ons of a beaut iful small lake. Some 600 automobiles had been instrum­ental in bringing about 2500 people to t he g rounds, wher e on a sma ll platform Rev. E. Huber, of Fredonia , N. D., preached a good sermon from Mark. 16: 16, and Rev. Bens followed him wi th a short address in English on Romans 6 : ?· 4. Rev. Huber had assisted Bro. Bens in an _able and noble way in his win ter ca mpaign, when 170 confessed fai th in ~he Lord.Jesus Chr ist. After t he preach­mg se~v1.ce the two ministers proceeded to. adm1mster the rite of baptism. In 42 ~mutes Rev. Bens immer sed the 81 can­?1dates, who had reported for bapt ism m ~he baptismal waters of Spring Creek: wh1_le Rev. Huber stood at his s ide ren­~ermg whatever aid was necessary. Rev.

ens expects to have another baptisma l service du:ing the mon th of Jul y, a nd perha ps st ill a nother one in August, a s ~~ers have reported for bapt ism since.

ter th~ baptism the Lor d's Supper was ~eld m the Herreid Ba ptist Church a nd it certainly was a gr and spectacle to . see 81 new member s mostly in t he pnme of life, r eceiving from t he pastor ~he t~and of f ellowship a nd celebratin .,. oge. er with t he church the comme~

or af,•0 n 1°f the Savior's death for our

sou 8 sa ".ation. It seemed as if a whole cong regation were taken up as. member s

~!c~~~ ~;~ch: Rev. _Bens has held the ber of eo a~in~ baptized t he most num­Dakotas P hp ~ in one ceremony in t he casion ' h av~ng baptized 72 on one oc­at Pa;k:toenn Se wDas pastor of the church h . ' · · He has now brok

IS own record. en

• • • T he best bonds to invest in are the

bonds of friendship.

THE BAPTIST HERALD

~rogram of the Madison Institute

The Summer Instit ute of the Atlan­tic Conference Bra nch of the Young Peo­ple's a nd Sunday School Workers ' Union wi ll be held a t t he New E ngla nd Baptist Young People's Home a t Madison, Conn ., from Aug. 23-30.

E ach morning af ter breakfas t at 8 o'clock the " morning wa tch" will be helcl. During t he forenoon, four class periods ta ke place, at 9-9 :40, 9:45-10: 25, 10:35-11-15, 11 :20-12. During t hese periods Rev. P a ul Wengel will teach on t he sub­ject of "The Apos tolic Church" and "Ba ptist Pol it y;" Mr s. E . Meier on "T eacher Tra ining" a nd a mission s tudy course ; Rev. G. H . Schneck on " Christian F undamentals" and "The Life of Christ; " Miss P r iscilla Hoops h as a s subjects "Church History" and "Biog raphical Sketches of Old Testament P rophets;" Dr. Fred Meyer will speak on "A Med­ical Missiona ry in t he Philippines ;" Rev. W. L. Schoetfel will conduct classes in "L eadership in Recreation ."

The afternoons will be devoted to r e­creation , swimming. Supper is ~t 5: 30. At seven a Sunset servi ce is on t he pro­gram. The hour from 8-9 is set aside for a musicale, a social a lecture, stun ts b.y vario~s delegations' a nd a consecra ­tion serVJce, according to t he progra m. A beach fire from 9-10 closes the full day.

Every one is requested to bring Bibles and notebooks. Room and board is $12. Regist ration fee amounts t o $1. Those who plan to a ttend are r equested to send reser va tions to Rev. J uli us Kaaz, 12 Broad S t., New H aven, Conn., not la t er t han Aug us t 15.

T he genera l opinion of those who at­tended this Institute last year was : "It was t he best time we ever had in ou r life." A still larger number ought to take in the blessings and privileges t his year. Don't m iss it.

• • • Don't have a head like a bell- nothing

but a tong ue to i t . * • •

A blotter absorbs everything and gives nothing. Don't be a blotter .

Agugst, 1924 9

Our Story PIGEON PIE

J. S. ELLIS

T he Binneys we re new in the Lineville charge a nd were a nxious t hat first im­pressions should be favorable. They ha d carried the firs t line of defense, the ma tter of getting acquainted with the parishioners , and Mr. Binney had reached the strategical position where he knew t hat Mr. Campbell was own brother to Mrs. L a rnct and could be sure that Miss Snow wa s Miss Snow when he met her a t the church door . Lineville folk ha d uncovered local tradition for h im and had warned him of things that had trou­bled every preacher sen t to Lineville in twenty years.

Thorndyke, a cha racter who lived in t he ho~se nex t to the parsonage, was somethmg of a local celebrit y; he was noted for his fondness for arg ument on lhe con trary s ide of questions and for a rude wit that made for him a place a?1ong those who liked to la ug h over h is kmd of joke. Among his other traits was a habit of a lways qua rreling with some one. Lineville though t i t was a grea t joke that . Thorndyke had found something on which to base a quarrel with every family that had moved into the parsonage. Wit h one fa mily it was the sweet peas t hat the preacher's wife planted on the line f ence bet ween t he houses; Thorndyke would not have the fence clut tered up with vines when he wanted to hang out his wash . With another family it was t he preacher's cow; she mooed early in t he morning and woke Thorndyke up.

" Let us try to get along with this man," Mr. Binney announced to his f am­ily . "A preacher has been moving from Lineville a t the end of the year every year fo r t en years. S tokes and Baker had to move on a ccount of scandalous s tories some one started."

Mrs. Binney looked at the packing boxes t hat st ill wer e standing on the back porch, waiting t o be emptied. "Well," she said firmly, "we are not going t o move in a year . I f eel as if I'd like to stay for for ty years. We'll not let a dyspept ic old bachelor run us ou t. When we get through unpacking I ' ll bake him a pie that will melt in his mouth. We'll make him glad tha t we came t o Lineville."

"Ted and I will ask him if we can ca~ry his ma il ," sa id Ralph, one of the twms.

" A nd we don't keep a cow," said four­teen-year-old Alice. "We ag ree wit h him that people living in t own should 11ot have cows to bawl round and wake up their neighbors. And we'll give him the whole fence for h is clothes."

But t ry as they would to be friendly, the ill wind blew. T he pie was baked, a beautiful golden pumpkin p ie, and T horn­dyke received it critically. "Oh, I ain 't starving," he said shortly. "It looks all

rig ht," he concluded. Then his love for a rg ument asserted itself. "I've got a question I'd like to ask. Why is it women nowadays haven't got time to keep house like they a re supposed to?"

Mrs. Binney went home wit h t ingling cars.

On another day the twins came home ruffled. "We offered to carry in wood for Thorndyke, and he t old us to go home and mind our own bus iness 11 t hey compla ined. '

_"Stay away from his place," said Mrs. Bmney. " We will ntind our own busi­ness! "

" I 'd like to shoot his old red chick­ens ," said T ed ; "they are over her e all the time."

"You. let t hose chickens a lone," his father ordered . "Whatever Thorndyke does, we arc not going to quarrel wit h him.11

•

On another day the ill wi nd became a gale. The Binneys were visiting in t he country at the home of an influentia l member , Silas Craven, a nd Mr. Binney happened to speak of the flock of pigeons wheeling round the barn . "Pigeons !" Silas Craven stood with t humbs in vest pockets looking a t them. "I'd like to wr ing the neck of the last one of t hem."

"What for?" The twins, standing near by, chorused t he question.

Si las Craven stroked his stubby r ed chin, and his blue eyes t\vinkled. " Pigeon pie! Yum, yum! Boys, you can have all the pigeons you can catch between now a nd time to go home, and your ma can make pigeon pie !"

They were two exceedingly busy boys fo r t he rest of that day. E very t ime they saw pige?ns enter t he barn they closed the opening and took up t he chase in the interior . A dozen pigeons rode back to town in a box on t he laps of the t wins.

By t he nexl morning the twins being boys, · ha d arrived at an una lterab

1

Je con­clusion. "We are going to keep these 11

announced Ted, "and raise some othe;·s lo eat ."

" Oh, I don't know." Mr. B inney looked up t houghtf ully from his paper. " I am afraid that in town folks might com­pla in of t hem."

"Well, we can '~ eat them," sa id Ralph . He put his hand mto t he box and touched the bobbing heads. " Why, I'd feel like a cannibal to eat t hese pigeons !"

Mr. Binney consented somewhat doubt­fully to keep the p igeons. His feeling of doub t increased when the boys carried the p igeons out to t he barn and he saw T horndyke looking on critically from his back yard.

Spring was coming. The Binneys wanted a good garden; they wanted it for t he green vegetables that it would yield a nd because one of Mr. Binneys t heories was that the parsonage garden should be a model for -the community.

He ma de an aspa rag us bed a nd dug t renches for celery. Beds for early veg ­etables he prepa r ed with specia l care Then. the ill wind became a storm. · ~h1cken s ! Thorn dyke's chickens! R ed

chickens scratched in the newly mad beds; r ed chickens dug up the seeds soo~ after ~hey were planted. The children were 111 school, and Mr. Binney could not watch the garden a ll day. He could shoo the ~hickens vigor ously and send t hem cacklm g over the fence · t hen wh he went back to his work th~ red chic~~ ~ns came back to thei r work-scr atching m the lettuce bed. . . That sort of thing happened ;sever a l

tunes a day for several days. Then one mornii:g from t he window of his study ~fr. Bmney saw the chickens scratching 111 the a sparagus bed. H e ran downsta irs a nd .o~t of the door: H e flung Lineville lrad1t1ons ~o the wmd- he was looking for somethmg to t hrow. Then h is ha nd fo ll on a brooms tick t hat t he t wins had been using for a shinny club. The stick flew through the a ir with dea dly a im. Before it had r eached its aim Mr. Bin­ney was experiencing a s inking of hear t a sen_se of awfulness that he could not descr1b:. There wa_s a cackling and a squawkmg a nd a flymg of r ed chicken s . a nd flopping a bout on the ground was ~ r ed roost er !

Mr . Bi~ney was a lmost paralyzed. H e cast a g m lty look at Thorndyke's house. no one was in si?ht. H e walked acros~ t he garden a nd picked up t he r ed roost er by one foot; it was a very dead rooster At that moment Thorndyke opened hi~ back. door a nd. came out . Mr. Binney c~rr1ed t he ch1~ken to the fence. "I killed your chicken- r ather accident­ally."

Thorndyke scoffed a nd rose to t he bat­t le. " Quite a n accident," he said. " I saw you t hrow a s tick at it."

Mr .. B inney was nettled. " I'll pay you for t his rooster; you say what it's worth But you have no business letting you~ chickens run loose in town."

"You get the law to make me keep them cooped up." Thorndyke had come close to t he fence and was speaking in a loud voice and waving his fists . "If yo:i want a garden, fence it-that's all."

Mr. B inney dropped the red rooster over t he fence and started to r etreat. He ~as sur~ t hat a number of neig hbors on _either side were enjoying t he alter­cation.

"I don't want your money for that rooster," Thorndyke shouted after h im "but I'll have my pay; I'll ring the n k of the last one of those pigeons you~e got in the barn!" Ve

Mr. Binney went into the house red in the face. T he old Lineville ~~~Y was brandnew ! A few morni"ng Jft e th t t M · s a er a even rs. Burney, having i·is early, ~ound to her disma y a dozen hea~1

less pigeons on the back porch. Sh~

I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I

I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I

I I I I I I I I

10

hurried upstairs to call her husband. "Get up quick," she whispered. "Don't wake the children. That mean old Thorndyke has killed the boys' pigeons just as he threatened. You must get them buried before t he boys wake up. They must not know about it. They would never forgive him."

Mr. Binney dressed hurriedly. "The scoundrel!" he said. "Mother, I guess we shall be ready to move a t t he end of t he year."

He went out into t he gray morning light and, digging a hole in t he garden, buried the pigeons ; a ll the while he was sure that Thorndyke was chuckling be­hind the window shades. When he had smoothed over t he spot in the garden he went back into the house with some unanswered questions in mind. H ow could he squa re it with t he boys? Would Thorndyke openly boast of his deed ? .. - •ntber," he saitl to his wife, " I had

"0 t" move a t the end of t he year t han

boys know that anyone could be ean."

i.iter breakfast Mr. Binney went downtown to get t he mail. The twins had not yet no ticed t he absence of their pets; as be walked along he was turn ing over in his mind plans for replacing them. Benny Hogue met him. on the corner. " 'Lo, Mr. Binney !"

Mr. Binney looked at Benny's freckled face, and his own face brightened. Boy scouts! The very idea! Had not he, their scout master, been ins tructing them to . do a good turn daily? "Benny," he said, grasping the boy's coat, "look here; I want some pigeons. I want them r ight away. You get the Eagle Patrol to get me some: I'll pay you, let's see, fifty cents apiece for t hem. Say," he called as Benny was darting away to spread the news, "don't tell Ted a nd Ralph. I want the pigeons for a surprise." . That was not quite what Mr. Binney intended to say, but what should a good ~an say in such a complicated chicken­p1geon affair? At Fisher's Emporium he stopped to chat for a moment, and while he was there the telephone rang.

"Your wife wants to speak to you, Mr. Binney," called the clerk.

"J ohn, 0 John!" Mrs. Binney's voice sounded hysterical. "Come home right away a nd dig up those p igeons. We have to have pigeon pie · for dinner. Si­las Craven left those pigeons on t he ?ack porch on his way to Clermont. He 1s going to stop on t he way back at noon to eat pigeon pie with us. His wife just called up."

Mr. Binney hung up the receiver and made a hasty, perhaps undignified, r e­tr~t ~rom t he emporium. He found his wife tn the stir and anticipation of a company dinner.

"Y~u'll have to hurry," she called lahugb1?g; "ther e will be just time to get t at pie baked by noon."

Once more Mr. Binney wen t to the garden with his spade; t his t ime he earne~ly hoped t hat no one would wit­ness ~18 strange actions. He dropped the pigeons into a pail and hurried into the ho':1se; they were none the worse for their burial.

The guest arr1 "ed on time, and the

p igeon pie was a glory to behold. Its crust was a delicate, flaky brown, and Mrs. Binney had the satisfaction of knowing that a warm place for the Bin­ney family was being made in the heart of at least one member of the Lineville church. The dinner had only begun when a knock sounded at the door. T ed, who answered i t, came running back. "It's Benny H ogue, clad. H e's got pigeons and says you ordered them­fifty cents apiece."

Benny, who had followed to t he door of the dining room, saluted his scout master. " The kids , they wouldn't believe me at first,'' he piped in his shrill voice; but I said, 'If a scout's honor is to be t rusted, ain't a scout master's ?' I guess they believed me then!"

Mr. Binney tried t o look cheerful. "J ust a little surprise for the boys, Brother Craven. They have taken great pleasure in t he ones you gave t hem."

"Fif ty cents is too much,'' persis ted the thrifty farmer; "they ain't worth it. They look fa ir-s ized, but t here's nothing to t hem.

Mr. Binney ordered t he pigeons taken to the harn and ha d jus t managed to switch the conver sation in to other chan­nels when the doorbell rang vigorously.

" It's Willie Bim," said Alice. "H e says he wants three dollars fo r s ix pigeons."

Mr. Binney, red of face, rose to make the trade. S ilas Craven sat s tiffly at t he table; his appetite for pigeon pi e ha d almos t gone. "I had no idea"- his mind fell back into the g roove t hat i t had just traveled- "that you folks were so fond of pigeon. I could just as well have brough t in t wo dozen. When you want to buy a ny more p igeons I'll bring in t he la st one we've got at ha lf what you' re payi ng t hese boys. It's robbery!"

Mrs. Binney sat cold and s ilent. She was sure tha t Silas Craven was making a new estimate of his preache r.

Ten t imes during the meal that fatefu l bell rang, and each t ime a boy stood there with a box or crate of pigeons. Mr. Binney had almost given up trying ~o conver se. Alice, who had been let into t he secret, was helping her mot her serve; from the kitchen she was r epeat­ing in tragic tones :

"Thou canst 1wt say I dicl il · never shake Thy gory locks at me." '

T hen just as Mr. Binney a nd Si las Craven were lea ving the table come on e final, .long, exasperating ring at t he bell. Wea r ily and lormented by t he s lings a nd a~rows of an outrageous fortune, Mr. Binney went to the door. Thorndyke was on the porch. As he extended his han.d th~re was something almost friend­ly m his face. "Say Mr. Binney" he said, ''.l g~ve up. I lik~ a good fight, but I ? on t hke i t one-sided. If you are going to buy up a ll the pigeons in the s tate to turn loose on me t hose chickens of mine will be cooped 'up. I'm r igh t about that; my theor y is r igh t. The one who wants a garden ought to fen ce it. But I don't know how I'll fence a~ainst a sky full of pigeons. Never mind the rooster. I ate him for dinner so it wasn't any loss. We'll let bygone~ be bygones."- Youth 's Companion.

THE BAPTIST HERALD

Daily Vacation Bible School Nottingham Baptist Church,

Cleveland, Ohio In the July "Baptist Herald" appear ed

an article telling of the dedication of our enlarged church building. We t hank God for our church home and for a ll t he conveniences we enjoy. We have a g reat work. here and ma ny families whom as yet we 11ave not reached. So in order to reach. them. we decided to have a Daily Vacation Bible School for children from four to fourteen years of age.

The school opened on June 30 with an enr ollmen t of 99 child ren. This is only our second week and the enrollment is 150. We have children present of many denominations, among them a number of Catholics.

We a re having very enjoyable times ~very morning from nine to eleven-t hirty m worshipping God through song and prayer , repeating of Bible verses Bible stu.dy, s tory telling a nd mus ic,' after which follows an hour of handwork. The childern are very much interested. Our prayer is that t hrough t his effort some souls may be saved for Christ and his Kingdom.

A. V ICTORIA 0 RTHNER.

Farewe ll Concert, Brooklyn, N. Y. It may inter est "Baptist Herald" read­

ers to get some news from a choir of young people that is on the job. Wi t h the exception of a bou t four Sundays the mixed choir of t he First German Bap­tis t Church sang r egularly both during the morning and evening services. Be­s ides t hat t he choir rendered valuable aid at other specia l gatherings of the church. We also took great p leasure in rendering concerts at the Evangelical Old P eople's Home a nd t he Chinatown Midnight Mission. T wo cantatas were sung by the choir during t he season 1923-1924, the Christma s can tata "The F irst Christmas,'' by Ira B. Wi lson, and t he Easter canta ta, "Das Passah," by E. L. Ashford, German text by Prof. 11. von Berge. Both of t hese were rendered successfully and with spi ri t ual benefi t. The choir concluded t his season by gi v­ing a Special Farewell Concert on June 19. Four numbers were r endered on t hat evening, each of which was well r eceived by the audience. They wer e : Festival Te Deum ........ Dudley Buck The Volga Boatman's Song .. N. C. Paige The Village Blacksmith .. .. .... . Noyes Gross und wundersam .. . . Theo. F. Mille r

Special features on that program were vocal selections by Arthur Billings Hunt of the radio station WEAF, r ecitations by Miss Charlotte Drews a nd severa l pia no trio selections . Blessed be J eho­vah , who has counted us worthy to s ing his praises. We are looking for ward to a n even more successful season when the summer days are over.

JULIA ESCHMANN, Sec.

• • • The surest way to spoil a kindness

you have done is to talk about it. • • •

It is always easy to find a reason why somebody else should undertake a dis­agreeable duty.

Agugst, 1924

Young People's Society Springs Successful Surprise on Pastor

The 16th day of April, 1924, is a day that wi ll long be remember ed by the Young People as well as t he member s of t he First German Baptist Church, Chicago. On that day we had a surprise on our dearly beloved and honored Pas­tor, Rev. H. C. Baum, who has ' .t1n the hearts of a ll the young people of the church. To prove that this is so, one only has to come to some of our meet­ings and see how whole-heartedly and eager the young people rally around their pastor. They are ever r eady to do any work assig ned t o them for the good of the church and the building of the King­dom. Indeed, this was a great day.

After the revival meeting was over a previously well a rranged program was car ried out by t he Young People's So­ciety, and everyone present surely en­joyed t hemselves beyond expression. The meeting was taken over by our President, l\Ir. H . W. Pfaff, and in addition to the musical numbers and the r efreshments which were served, a g reat surprise was g iven to our Pas tor, Rev. Baum. Through t he efforts of the young people and mem­bers who joined the young people, we were a ble to present Rev. Baum with a new automobi le, which he is able to use and will use in his work to win souls for Chris t and a lso keep in closer touch with t he member s of the church, a s they a re so scattered all over t he city of Chicago. The young people and t heir friends are confident that Rev. Baum will put this machine to good use for the purpose for which it was don ated to him a s a present by t he Young P eople's Society and their friends.

After t he musical program came t o an end, our president, Mr. H . W. Pfaff, ap­pointed Brothers Malwitz, Rennegarbe, Martin a nd Rosenbach t o serve on t he committee and to intr oduce our pastor to his new friend which was awaiting him outside of the church. T hey es­corted h im, and the whole society and members of t he church followed t he pas­tor a nd viewed the a utomobile which was splendidly illuminated a nd quite at­tractive. After that refreshments were served a nd everybody was happy and went home wit h a spirit of determina­tion to consecrate more of their time and life in the f ut ure to assist the pastor to carry on the work that Chris t may be glorified and his Kingdom be built.

Special mention is to be made of t he fact, for which the young people arc very appreciative t o Bro. Malwitz, is that wit hout him we would not have been a ble to celebrate so completely as we did, owing to the short time and being righ t in the season where it would require weeks for delivery of t he automobile. We were able, through Bro. Malwitz' ef ­forts t o have the automobile on short notice, for which t he young people arc very thanldul to him.

We are a ll united as young people a nd what is more pleasing is t hat we have a perfect understanding with the older ones, and with such a leader as Rev. Baum there is no r eason to believe t hat

the Lord will not bless us in the futu re a nd will use the best that is in us so that he may be glorified.

LILLIAN DIETZ, Sec.

The German B. Y. P. U. at Madison, S. D.

Under the splendid leadership of our president, Mr. A. A. Voigt, t he program of the convention was carried out t o the complete satisfaction of all concerned.

All those who att ended t he convention at Madison, S. D., will agree that Madi­son is a fi ne town, but t hat the young people of the First German Baptist Church a r e better yet. They were ver y congenial and living examples of hospi­tality. Their good will and cheerfulness sure was con tagious, and it permeated t he whole convention. They had a fine method of getting some of us bashful fo lks out of our shell of reser vedness, to renew our old acquainta nces and make new ones by means of a little slip of paper for the purpose of collecting au­tographs. Mrs. Rev. J. F. Olthoff got the prize for collecting the lar gest number of autographs.

Some of our stay-at-home friends and those of the other B. Y. P. U .s might a sk, " Who was there?" To be exact, one hundred and twenty-eigh t r egistered, still that was not a ll. But some of the outsta nding delegates, visitors and speak­ers were Professor F. W. C. Meyer of Rochester, N . Y., Rev. J. F. Olthoff of Avon, Rev. C. D ippel of Plum. Creek, Rev. A. La ng of T yndall, Rev. C. Swyter of Chancellor, Rev. H. Lohr of Monroe (all of South Dakota), Rev. 0. Lohse of Martin, N. D., last but not least, Miss Alethea Kose of Bismarck, N. D. Besides t hese and others too numerous to men­t ion t here were t he following students from our Seminary at Rochester, N. Y., Messrs . Martin Deboer, William Voigt and Webber. These a dded to t he cream of our splendid young people of the Sun­shine State made a very fine convention, indeed.

" And what did you get out of it all?" To the materia list one would say, " We got two days splendid board and r oom out of it" (those folks in Madison knew how to prepare good things to eat, and that isn't all either) ; .to t he vacationers one would say, "We had a jolly good time at the convention." But, t hen to the Christ ian student of life one would say, "The lectures and addr esses of the convention were very helpful. They en­couraged one to g ive his ver y best to t he Mas ter. A Christian's life is to be such that truthfully r eflects our Lord Jesus Christ. Professor Meyer said t hat people a re prone to read human lives rather t han the Bible. The delegates and repre-. sentatives of the different societies have been encouraged to plan and to attempt greater things in their respective places. Many individuals h ave been confronted and possibly inspired with the idea of arousing their talents and to use them in the upbuilding of the Kingdom of God. The societies of South Dakota shall no longer be discouraged by petty

11

problems but pick up courage a nd face t he g reat issues of life and the tasks of the Kingdom.

S. C. BLUMHAGEN.

Men's Service of Victory Bible Class

A men's ser vice was held in the First Germa n Baptist Church of Passaic, N. J., of which Rev. L. Rabe is pastor. This meeting was held on Monday evening June 16, under t he auspices of t he Vic~ tory Bible Class.

Rev. W. J. Zirbes of Brooklyn, N. Y., was t he principal speaker of t he eve­ning. H is topic being , " Peace and Peace­makers." A few songs and selections in both vocal and instrumental were given. The word of welcome was g iven by the committee chairman, E. Earl T ravers and leader throughout the evening. '

Jt migh t be helpful and worthwhile Yo publish some good thoug hts given ., Rev. Zi rbes on P eace and Peacem~· His defini tion of Peace was har1 .•. We must be closely r elated with the ·I"' .. f of Peace and must stand right with hfm in order to be a Peacemaker. God's wish and plan of peace had its first lack in Cain who s lew his brother Abel. I n J e­sus have we only Peace because he is the Prince of Peace. In many instances when J es us was on ear t h he was a Peace­maker and many marveled at his calm­ness of mind. Rev. Zirbes gave an a mus­ing parable of a man and wife who were living in peace in a wes tern town. When­ever t hey heard of all t his unrest be­tween men and women, such as divorces a nd other quarrelsome proceedings, they wondered how t his could be. The man being open-minded gave t h is example to his wife: "When I say something is mine and you insist it is yours is the way of breaking peoce." So his wife said, "Let's try it." She put a n article on t he table and said, "This is mine!" and he being a fine specimen of a P eace­maker made the wise r eply, "Then keep it." A portrait by an artist of a la borer returning from bis work of t he day tired and hungry. Under this is t he in scrip­iion " P eace." On many a gravestone the inscr iption: "Peace." A picture of <!

beautiful sunset with the inscription "Peace." These t hree p ictures are a ver y weak s ign of Peace. Where there is not peace there can be no harmony. Harmony means working together smoothly. In a fast r unning shaft on a machine t here inust be oil, t he proper kind of oil t hat will keep t hese two metals running smoothly together with­ou t wearing out or getting hot. When there is pel'fect lubrication t here is no noise. \Ve people are inconsistent and must all try to strive for that one prize as a Peacemaker because our Master wants us to be so. FRED Luz.

• • • Somebody has said that there are three

kinds of church-members-those that push, t hose that ride, and th ose that ride and drag thefr feet.

• • • That your wagon is hitched to a star

is no reason for failing to respect the other traffic in the roa,,.

12 THE BAPTIST HERALD

Missions-~~~~~~~ A Crown of G loryin g

GEO. J. GEIS

One of the great compensations in t he life of a missionary is to see t he gradual development of Christian character among his people. The development of such a character is nat urally a slow growth. At times it seems almost ·ar­rested development and yet, when com­parison is made after a number of years a wonderful progress in Christian life is noticeable.

Such a rich compensation h as been ours since we again have taken up t he work among our people after an a?­sence of eight years. Again and al?ain we find ourselves asking t his question: "Are these the boys and girls who came to us in filth and rags and a re now occupying such places of trust and honor in their community?"

Education , of course, will make a won­derful change in the expression of a Kachin especially when a ch::i nge of dress is added. But these, without a change of heart, will only produce a more cunning man and woman, a s we too well know from the experience of a few who have gone forth from our school without this cha nge of hear t.

But given this change of heart and letting the divine life of the Lord Jesus have the controlling interest in this life a most wonderful transformation is bound to take place, and such a life here because of its dark background will shine even with greater Juster th an it would in Christian lands.

The father of the bride in the picture was one of our first pupils and one of the first converts on t his field. Because of his age he left school after passing t he third grade. However he made the most of his limited education. In fact he made more use of it than many a college man in America. Because of his natu ral leadership he was chosen head­man of our first Christian village. This brought him in contact with higher offi­cials who soon came to recognize and appreciate his sterling Christian qual­it ies.

His remarkable ability in acquiring languages secur ed for him a position as Interpreter when Government brought a large territory under law and order north of Myitkyina. On t his expedit ion Lahpai Yaw rendered such conspicuous service that he was publicly honored by th~ Government a nd g iven a small j udge­ship over a large tract of land. Twice he has been publicly honored in this position, once he received a silver moun­ted sword and la ter a double barrel shot ? un and with t his came a lso an increase in salary.

Prosperity is often a greater test of Christi~n character tha n poverty. It was w1~h fear and t rembling t hat we saw this young man rise in polit ical power and material prosperity. But I am ~appy to say that he stood t he test. Praises of men did not spoil him, nor

Kachin Bride and Groom Zau Hkum and Ma T awng

did a substantial increase in his salar y make hi m feel independent of his God. On the contra r y he served both his coun­t ry and his God better than ever before. For four yea rs he was over two hun­dred miles away from the mission sta­t .io:i. 1:his may not mean much to people liv ing in an auto countr y; it took him j ust one month to reach his new home in the nor t h.

On Sunday he met wi th his family to worship his God. His household joined him and soon some of . hi s neighbor s. Soon t here was a small comp any of true believers. Soon this company made grea ter demands on his time than he could conscientiously give, so when I arrived in November he wrote me say­ing t hat they needed a full t ime worker and that he would be willing to give from his earnings thirty rupees ($9.74) a month towards t he salary of a preach­er. This man has been f ound. A grad­uate of t his year's class from t he Karen seminary is here now studying the lan­guage and will soon be r eady to take his long journey north .

La hpai Yaw belongs to the t ribe from which chiefs are chosen. When t her e­fore his daughter who attended our school was given in marriage he, accord­ing to Kachin custom, could have de­ma nded many gifts in exchange for his daughter , but r ather th a n follow t hese old heathen customs, he made his daugh­ter a handsome present of four hundred rupees ($129.87). The you ng man who won t he hear t of the bride is Zau Hkum , also a graduate of our school and the

son of a chief. He now holds t he posi­tion of cour t interpreter.

Do you wonder why we ar e happy to be back among these our spiritual chil­dren? T hese and many more are the great compensation of the miss iona ry's life or as t he Apostle P aul wrote to t he Thcssalonians : "For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of glorying? Are not even ye, before our Loi·d J es us at his coming?"

A Missiona r y Journey in China China Inland Miss ion,

Pingyanghsien, Chekaing, China, June 5, 1924.

My dear friends and fe llow-workers, Iowa Jugendbuncl.

Before another clay passes, I must get my promised letter off to you. It is true, we have been back for weeks now and yet you r Jetter is here. The past weeks have been busy ones, fo r my second lan­guage examina t ion had to be taken a nd now that's over, my next obligation is a letter to you. Soon you will be gather­ing for your annual meeting at Elgin­how I should love to be t here with you, for t he last time t he meeting was at Elgin, I enjoyed it so very much.

Now a little about our journey and t he incidentals. We started from home a bout 8: 30 Tuesday morning, in the rain. The fi r st· stage of the journey was done by small boat and last ed about two and one half hours. Our boy, t he Bible woman and we two ladies composed our party. Our boy left home a few hours before us a nd got ou r luggage safely in to the bigger boat wh ich was to take us the g reater par t of our jour~ey.

P erhaps it would be best to give you a peep into our boat firs t. The b~y has one sma ll "apartment," wherem he sleeps cooks washes dishes, etc. The

' ' ' I h next place is the Bible womans. n er "apartment" is hers and our lunch bas­ket--it isn 't a small lunch basket as you would. imagine upon t he first thought, for it contains our food for the next five weeks. For dinner a nd supper the top of the lunch basket serves as a table for us-of course we have no chairs but must sit at meal on the floor of the boat. The next "apartment" is ours-in it we sleep, read write and eat breakfast or anything el

1

se to pass a way t he t ime, for I must t ell you, we have g one .at thl! tremendous speed of 11h miles m one hour! Our bedding is spread fla t on the floor of the boat and isn't the very soft­est place to sleep for three night.s.

The firs t day and nig ht the JOurne.y was made iri stages for we had ~o a~a!t the t ides. What a s tra nge feeling it is at first- a dark night, raining, f ar. from home, a mid stranger s. How good is t~e God we adore, to us. Amid th~ turmo1l , lawlessness and brigandage which rages in so ma ny parts of China, we t wo ladies ar e able to tr avel in peace and safet y, without fear. Indeed we do tha nk

l

Agugst, 1924

Miss Lang on Journey

him. The second night we spent in a small village. There we were invited to come for a meal owing to the fact that a few Christians lived there. However, s ince two of our workers from Wen­chow were to stop and have services t hat night, we decli~ed. Befor e r etiring, we have prayers with t he Bible woman, boy a nd our boatmen. Our hear t s are glad­dened to know that one of the boatmen only about 20 weeks ago a ccepted Chris t a.s his Savior. Our boy, a sincere Chris­tian and good speaker, g ives t he mes­sage. All four listen ver y attentively and one cannot help but notice the con­trast in t he faces of these men. The one with a look of satisfaction and peace, whereas the others seem t r oubled, for although they have heard, they cannot at once fathom the depths of the Sa­vior's love.

The third day of our journey is a beautiful one. Could you but see the scenery'· The mountains, the waterfalls, the rapids, the leaves and flower s just showing life-one cannot help but look to the Creator and thank him. How one longs that t he Creator of a ll t hese beau­tiful things might be worshipped by these people.

Thursday evening found us at the end of the second stage of our journey. What was wrong in t he place wher e we stopped ? Could it possibly be there was a fire? Was the President of t he U. S. passing through? Or could it be a cir­c~s? It wasn't any of these things­s1mply two foreign ladies a nd bless t heir heart s, t heir eyes h ad never beheld such peculiar beings befor e. 'Tis true, t hey had seen foreign men, but not foreig n women. We walked up to the Gospel hall. All along t he way men, old and young, grannies, mothers with babes on their arms, all came out to have a peep. That evening Mr . Worley (of our mis­s ion) was in the same town and it was decided best to have a sepa rate meeting for women and men. Needles to sa y t her e were crowds in both places. Men were not a llowed to come into the wom­en's room but even with t he ver y best of efforts on t he par t of t he preacher t her e, some did get in. One old gr and­daddy, practically toothless stood t her e all t he time listening not only wit h open ears but open mouth as well. One woman

seemed so interested and when asked to believe t he Gospel she said, "We have no one to teach the women." A most pa­t hetic look was on her face . Then she wanted to know how to pray-a short prayer was taught her-she repeated it like a child. Young women at home, is it nothing to you that these women want lo learn about the Gospel and yet there is no one to teach them? Truly our hearts ached that night a s we wended our way back to the boat.

We had to get up the next morning

a t 4: 30 and get our beds packed, break­fast ea ten and dishes packed for the next s tage of our journey. By 7 we were on our way- t his t ime going by chair. Up, up, up t he mountains we went. The scenery indescribably pretty. Passer s-by and those working t heir fields had to know who we were. Never, never sha ll I forget the feeling t hat came over me at the one conve1·sation t hat took place. Our boy was walking behind my cha ir. A man came nea r, he gazed a t me and then said to the boy, "Where are they from and where a1·e they going?" He told t hem. Then he a sked, "Wha t do t hey do?" The boy said, " Teach the Gospel." "What Gospel ?" was the next question. He was told the "Gospel of J esus?" Then came the question, "What name did you say?" Again t he na me of "J esus" was told him and t he boy said, "Haven't you ever hea1·d it before?" The sad answer was, "No." Poor soul, n ever

13

had he heard the blessed name of Jesus! Young men, is it nothing to you that these men have never heard?

By dinne.r time we were sitting at a wayside inn much to the amusement of the crowd. News does travel quickly in China even though t here are no tele­phones. Perhaps t he quickest way of sending messages in China is the same as it is said to be at home, na mely, "t ell a woman." At any r ate people from all over the mountains seemed to come run­ning to see us. One woman gazed at u s for s

1ome time. and then said, "Well , they

a ren t any different from us." Later when talking to a man she said "Em­peror save us! They are funny.': Din­ner was r eady and so we were invited to her " pig's pen" for dinner. Indeed it was a pig 's pen for in one corner the pigs were making a dreadful noise eat­ing. In an opposite corner we sat at a small table, eating a bowl of rice a nd a poached egg with chop sticks while the crowd stood there beholding those "funny people."

After dinner, on we went. Par t time walking, part time riding. We were tired, but we weren't to our dest ination. After it g rew dark one of my chair bearers fell fiat on his face. Indeed I was thankful my chair t ipped on the left side for had it fallen to the right, I should h ave fallen several feet into a flooded rice field . On we went again-

The

Sz-

Ch'i

Chapel

after having gone a few more paces, the man carrying at t he front f ell , again I was tipped over but not hurt.

About 9 P. M. we reached the place of our first Bible school. T ired and weary from having walked t en or twel ve miles over stony paths and up hill. Having arrived at t he chapel one felt as t hough home folks were ther~ to welcome us, fo 1· such was our recept1on of the preach­er 's family a nd t he Bible woman t here. A big meal had been prepared but we were too tired to do justice to it that night. As soon as our camp beds ar­rived we made them a nd tried to sleep, but were not able to do much sleeping, for we wer e too weary.

The church which you as t he Iowa Ju­gendbund helped build (for much of the money you sent me went towards t he building of that church) is not yet com­plet e. It stands on a hill, for the Chris­tians t her e say you are not t o hide your

14

light. I t will interest you, I know, to hear t hat th~ men put in 800 days of weirk for which none of them received one day's wages. Below t he hill on which the church s tands is a waterfall. Until the baptistry is finished t hey mus t baptize in t he creek below. ' What an impressive service it must have been a few weeks after we left to see 20 souls following Him in baptism. I s mission­ary work done in vain? T he work there is increas ing-the preacher is most a n­xious to win souls for the Lord. H is wife feels that she ought to give her baby to someone else so that she can go out to help t he women, for she's t he only one who unders tands her Bible enough to help ot her s. The work in t hat dist rict has only been begun in the last years. Pray much for t he wor k at Sz-ch'i.

Pastor of Sz-Ch'i Chapel and Family

My letter to you is such a lengthy one that I think perhaps it is best to leave you at Sz-ch'i and perha ps some other time take you back home. In closing let me say that our t ime a way (almost (five weeks) a mong t hese people has t ruly done us· good. But dear prayer helpers and friends, we had to leave them! That's the sad part of it. The work is prospering- souls a re being saved but who is ther e to f eed them? Women 'have so little teaching-they know so lit tle and becau se of shortage of foreign work­ers these poor souls must wait until year aft er next when we can come this way ag~in. If we only had good Bible 'homen 1t wouldn't be quite so bad, but t ey are so ha rd to find. I 'm bringing ~he need of the women's work of China

efore you so you will hel-p pray. Pray for those who believe, pray that God

will ra ise up more Bible women for us. Pray for us , h is messengers.

T ruly t he ha r vest is r ipe, but the reapers? May h is r ichest blessing r est upon you as the Iowa J ugendbund, in a special way in t his your new year.

With best wishes to you a ll , Believe me to be,

Yours in His glad ser vice, BERTHA M. L ANG.

Crusader's Bible Class, Second Church, Brooklyn

On Saturday evening, May 24, the Crusader's Bible Class of t he Second Church of Brooklyn, N . Y., held it s fifth a nnua l par ents' supper at the church parlor. I n spite of t he dampness of the evening more than seventy parents and friends were present. After a most hearty meal, which was prepared by the young ladies of t he church, we were in­spired by four excellent messages.

Our beloved teacher , Bro. Chas. E. E isenha rdt, u rged our parents t o suppor t us heartily in our work for our Lor d a nd Master , J esus Christ.

Br o. P . Wengel fo llowed, a nd in his lovi ng ma nner gave us a wonderfu l mes­sage of the great work done by young men in biblical days, spurring and urg­ing us on to do g reater wor k as you ng men.

Next, Bro. Wa lter .Makowsky brought us a sti r ri ng message from t he fi f th commandment, entreat ing us to honor our pa r ents who ha ve done so much fo r us.

Last , but no least , our pastor , Rev. W. .J. Zirbcs, a lso gave us a fine message.

F ollowing each message we wer e enter­ta ined by solos and r ecitations, and we a re indeed g rateful to .Miss Charlotte Drews a nd Bros. J oseph a nd Oscar Con­rad for serving us in this manner.

We ar e t hankfu l to our Lord and Ma_ster, J esus Chr ist, for the way in wh1_ch he has led our class, and are es­pec1all~ grateful to h im for our leader , l'l!r. E isen ha rdt. We cer tainly appre­ciate t he effort he has put forth. H is w~n?erfu\ devotion to t he cla ss, h is spm_t u_al leadership, his Christ ia n mode of ltvmg, and his fa it hfulness to his Lord has g reatly influenced our Jives a nd has been an inspiration in a ttain ing the record we ha ve made.

We have supplied four p res idents to our Young ~eople's Society, one of our ~oung men 1s our Sunday school super ­mtendent, one ha s complet ed two year s of study at our Seminar y at Rochester , another enters the Semina ry t his fall, and othe~s a re Sunday school t eacher s. We cer tamly have much to be t ha nk ful for.

Our present officer s are : Erich Twa­~·oschk, president; Wm. Lot z, vice-pres­ident ; Ernest Fuchs, secr etary ; Wm. Hoof, t reasurer. E RICH TWAROSCHK.

Annual Convention of the Iowa Jug~ndbund

T he Annual Convention of the Iowa J ugendbund was held June 17-19 a t E l­gin, a neat lit tle town, beaut ifully s it­uated among t he hills. About 200 dele­ga~s a nd visitor s assembled- some by rail, t he most by auto-from our differ -

THE BAPTIST HERALD

ent churches to par t icipate in the con­ference. The local societ y a nd church a r e deser ving of much commendation. fo r their splend id and efficient ser vice in tak ing care of this la rge a nd lively com­pany.

T he convention was preceded by a Sunday School Insti tute held on 'l' ues­day afternoon under the leadership of Rev. V. Witter, Director of Relig ious Education of the Iowa Bapt ist Stat e Convention. The writer a r rived t oo late to attend th is meet ing , but according to all r epor ts t he prog ra m was most inter ­est ing a nd profi table.

Prof. L. Ka iser was t he chief speaker of the convention. His perfect command of the English language, t he clea r log ical order in the development of th~ t?eme, the apt illustra tions add empha­sis to the t ruth he presents. Prof. Kai ­ser spoke in t hree addresses on " The Symmetrical Christ ian Life;" " God's Cla im Upon Youth" a nd " A Call to t he Supr eme Service." We saw anew God's pla n for our lives and his provis ion to make them beaut iful a nd useful. May t he Holy Spi rit be able to quicken in us t he truth we hea rd unto abiding fru it !

Another impor tant fea ture of the con­vention was the Round Table Discussion on Wednesda y a f ternoon. Representa­t ives from six societies r ead pa pers t rea t­ing from differen t a ng les the genera l theme: "Bible Study." Many good thoughts were brought out concer ning the necessity, the va lue and t he methods of the study of God's Word, both in the papers a nd in the genera l discussion. If we ha ve received a new incentive to find our delight in t he law of J ehovah and to medi tate on his law day a nd n igh t (Ps. 1 :2) , our Rou nd Table Discussion ha s not been in va in.

Many of t he young people test ify t hat t he p resence of the Lor d's Spirit was rea lized by t hem mos t in the hours of devot ion, whe n under t he leadership of a delegate we unit ed our hea r ts a n_d voices in pra yer a nd p ra ise a nd test i­mony.

A ll the meet ings were beautified by musical number s , vocal and instrumen­ta l. On Wednesday night severa l r ead­ings were most effectively render ed. Thus t he Young P eop le's Convention gives opportuni ty in diffe rent ways fo r t he exercise of t he diver sified g if ts in our societies.

T he treasurer's repor t revealed t he fact that we had not fully reached our goal of $1000 in our Missionary Offer ­ing, which a mounted to $832.50. But t he sum is in advance of a ny p revious offering, a nd togethei· with the money in our reg ular t r ea sury we had about $1000 on ha nd. The following disbur sements were agreed upon: F or J. Speicher's Missionary H ome, China, $500 ; for Ber­tha Lang, China, $250; for Car l J ordan, China, $50 ; for our Missiona r y and Be-nevolence Offering $100. .

The societ y of Victor won the v!ctory th is year in the r ace for the highest percent age in our Standa rd of E xcel­lence. A s a reward the society received a bea ut iful Refer ence Bible. Our Stand­a rd is very s imple, emphasizing just three fundamental r equirements: Church

Agugst, 1924

At tendance, Sys tematic Bible Study, Da ily Devotional Bible Reading.

T he officers of the Iowa Jugendbund for t he ensuing year a re: P residen t, H . B. Wiesley, Aplington, Iowa ; Vice-Pres­ident, Carl Speeker , George, Iowa; Sec­retary-T reasurer, L. B .. Johnson, S team­boat Rock, Iowa .

May the Lord's blessing be manifested increas ing ly in our Young People's work!

A VISITOR.

Annual Concert, Choir of Second Church, New York

On Tuesday evening, June 10, t he choi r of the Second German Bapt ist Church , New York City, gave its ninth annual concert. The church was crowded, and it was agreed by all present t hat this was t he best concer t the choir had ever g iven.

There were eleven anthems by the choir,_ a nd t he ~uartet render ed a very beaut.1ful selection, "Now the N ight in Starlight Splendor,'' from the Sextet from Lucia di Lammermoor .

Our pa stor, Bro. F. Busch r ead an ext ensive r epor t by out· orga

1

nis t-direc­tor, Cha rles G. Kling, which showed t hat the choir had a record of 92 pe r cent fo r t he season, including Sundays a nd rehearsals. S ince last season t he membership of the choi r ha s very nearly doubled in number. Mr. Kling also poin­ted out t he fact t ha t of the sixty offices in the chur ch, for t y are held by mem­bers of the choi r . Not only do we s ing­we a lso work.

T hen too we ha ve recreation. On Decorat ion Da y the choir had an outing to Mauch Chunk, P a . The day was n:iarvelous and . we a ll had a jolly good t ime out t her e m t he mounta ins.

The object of t he choir has been t o render t heir work so a s to be of spiritual benefit to t he congrega tion, and our pas­tor ha s cer tain ly found the choir of great help in this r espect.

The evening held surprises for t he choir members, t he di r ector a nd the a u­dience. S ix members of the choir were awarded first pr ize ( a bea ut ifu l leather­?ound hymna l w!th t he name engra ved ll1 gold ) for having 100 p er cent in at­tendance for the season, a nd three mem­bers r eceived second p rize (a red-letter pocket Testament, also wi th the na me eng raved in gold.) Bro. Kling was sur­p.ri sed with a purse from t he cong rega­t ion as a token of a ppreciation.

After t he last. number on l he program \~e had the th ird surpr ise which con­sisted of re_fl~eshments-home-made cake from t he sisters of the church and ice c~·eam which was dona ted by one of t he s is ter s of the church .

Alt hough our work is completed for t he season, i t is only in the sense t hat we will endeavor t o start the new season with better work t ha n before.

• • • Old Lad~-"My dear lit tle boy, what

a re you gomg to be when you get big?" Little Boy- "A man."- Boy's Life.

15

Choir of Los Angeles Church

Successful Musica l Progr a m Given by Choir of the Firs t G er­

man Ba ptis t Church, Los Ang eles, Cal.

On Monday evening, J une 23, our choir gave a musical program which was a complete success. W it h the untiring ef­for ts of our choir director, Bro. Wa lter Ber tuleit , we have j ust completed s ix mont hs of musical ser vice to our church . Dur ing this per iod of ser vice, we our­selves have r eceived many a blessing in co-operating wit h our pastor, Bro. Monschke, in both t he Sunday ser vices and also during t he r eviva l meetings. Our progr a m consis ted of five choi r num­bers ; a piano duet by R uth and E mily \'lolst; a violin solo by Joe Karl and three vocal solos by Mrs. I da Seiler Scuda more, a p rominent vocalist a nd member of our church, one of these, "Die Uhr," was by special request.

As the program followed in the wake of the Pacific Conference we were very fortunate in having many talen ted vis­itors from our other Pacific Coast church­es. One among these was H enry Ber­t uleit of the First Church at Portland, Ore., who rendered a very good bass solo, "Der Wander er." T hen las t but not least we ha d the pleasur e of having with us Emma Ber tuleit Meier , a missionary of t he Second Church at Philadelphia , who sa ng for us an E nglish numher, "Fear not ye, 0 I srael." Dur in g t his progr am a collection was taken net ting us $50, which we handed to Br o. Kr att of Port­land, Ore., to help pay off t he $2000 mortgage on the Altenheim of that city.

Terminating this meeting, our pres­ident , Mr. H er ma n Ka geler , Jr., pre­sented our pianist , Miss Ruth Wolst, wi t h a very handsome bouquet of flowers as a farewell g ift from our choir, a nd a s an inducement for a speedy r eturn from her t rip which she is taking to her for ­mer home in Mich igan. Our very capa ble soprano, Sister Martha F er us, a ccom­pa nied her on her journey E ast . Both have been a g reat help a nd blessing in our midst a nd we hope t hey will make a speedy r eturn to t he land of sunsh ine and flower s.

H ERMAN WESSEL, JR., V ice-Pres.

• • • _H e who. helps. a child helps humanit y

with an 1mmedmteness not possible a t any other stage of lif e.- P hillips Brooks.

About Reading the Scripture · Leason

REV. JOHN H. ELLIOT, D. D.

If there is one thing above another t hat needs special attention and r everen t car e in a society meeting, it is the read ing of t he Scrip t ure lesson. Too often lit.t ie or no serious or respectful cons ideration seems to be given t o it. J ust why young people with the advantage of the splendid schools and colleges we now possess in this country of ours are careless and slovenly in their public r eading of t he Bible is beyond my comprehension. No­tice this matter, and tell me if I a m in er ror .

Of a ll t he books in existence no book is more carefully punctuated t han the Bible, and most copies of it now have a sytem of pronunciat ion easily compre­hended.

I sha ll have t o admit that ma ny min­is ters a~e ca reless about t he reading of t he Scripture lesson, and so in their readi~g put before their young people a shockmg example of slovenly, indistinct thoughtless indifference . as to t he sens~ of the tex-t.

The example of t he Levites and t he la ymen associated with them in the olden t ime has the r ight ring about it. ( Neh. 8 :7 . 8.) They "caused the people t o un­der stand the law. . . . So t hey read in the book, in t he law of God, dist inctly and gave the sense, and caused them U: under stand t he reading."

Whatever else our modern schools of learning and criticism may have t aught one thing remains. The Bible is a won~ derful piece of liter ature. Very well. Why not at least, then, treat it wit h re­spect a nd seek t o get the trut h out of it?

Careless , thoughtless reading in p ublic oftentimes p uts into t he text what it does not contain or teach, a nd is t herefore an unfair treatment of the text of t he Book.

Most societies now have a committee meet with the prospective leader before t he meeting to assist and make sugges­tions especially to beginners. T his is a most excellent p lan. May I suggest however, t hat more at tention be given t~ the matter of r eading t he lesson ? First let t he co~mittee see to it. that no one i~ seated while the lesson 1e being r ead Second, encour age t he leader to put ate · back ot the voice, speak distinctly a nd a:_ a moderate pace. To let the voice . k so low as t o be inaudible to any ones~~-

16

cept those of acute hearing-faculty is to be impolite to other s or conceitedly con­scious of self. Young ladies should re­member that a very low voice is no in­dicat ion of sweetness, but rather of sel­fish weakness or indolence. Third, pay strict attention to punctuation. Note that the Bible is so carefully printed in regard to this matter that commas are sometimes used at the end of a line. Un­fortunately the modern printer is care­less about punctuation, and so often gives the wrong sense. Study the aver­age newspaper or magazine for proof of this. Read over the Scripture lesson in private out loud beforehand. P ray about it, and then do your best with the best book you will ever have the privilege of reading to your fellows.

Do You Believe in Signs?

To borrow money to spend on pleasure or indulgence is a sign t hat your mind is weak.

I f you can make three people smile before br eakfast on a r a iny morning, it is a sign t hat great good fortune is await ing you.

If your money doesn't last from one pay day to another, it is a sign that you will be poor all your life.

To betray a confidence given you is a sign t hat shame is coming to you.

If you wear a scowl or gloomy look four days out of each seven, it is a s ign t hat you will have few fr iends. * • •

The city girl boarding in the country spoke to the farmer about the savage way in which the cow r egarded her.

"Well," said the farmer , "it must be on account of that red waist you' re wearing."

" Dear me!" cried the girl. " Of cour se I know it's t erribly out of style, but I had no idea a country cow would notice it."-Country Gentleman.

To do a favor for a stranger or some one who cannot repay you is a sign that you will be happy for t he next twenty­four hours.

To tell one lie is a sign t hat you will suffer from a n uneasy conscience ; to tell two, is a sign of a bad memory; to tell t hree, is a sign, if you are wise, that you will not repeat t he offense.-Ex.

Points of Argument, No. 2 . Many a pious C~istian has had serious scruples about having his life insured, fearing he Illlght be thereby sacrificing his trust in God. Much has been said and written in defense of their viewpoint, and often it seemed their arguments were convincing and correct. Still, the life insurance bus iness kept on growing, until today it is about the greatest and most important bus i­ness in the world.

Life insurance is now a highly developed science, whose principles are well understood. It is a commodity with a definite money value which is ?gured out in dollars and cents t he same as the value of a pound of grocer­ies, or meat, or any other commercial article.

The cos t of life insurance depends upon the number of deaths in the o~ganization. If th.ere are many deaths, during a calendar year, the cost is !ugh for that yea r ; if there are few deaths the cost is low. The all important thing is to have a standard of rates high enough to cover the highest possible cost. Such a standard is the American Exper ience Mortality which is used by the German Baptis ts' Life Association. Now, since the G.

1

B. L . A. is not conducted for profit to s tockholders, but for the sole benefit of our members, under this high standard we are able to g ive the cheapest kind of insurance. All claims are paid out of a common mortuary fund. At the close of each year an· inventory is taken of income and expenditures of that year . Each memb er is charged wit h his share of the death losses and his share in the legal reserve to guarantee the s tability of his certificate. Whatever the mem­ber has paid above losses, r eserve and expense is the surplus which is returned to the member in dividends. Thus the member has received his insurance at cost on an unquestionable safe and sound basis. The same process is re­peated year after year, and as t ime goes on the reserve accumulation increases.

In case of death these certificates are worth their full face value. T he minute you receive a G. B. L . A. certificate you have cr eated a fund which will be turned over to your beneficiary at the time of your death. There is nothing more certain in th is world t han your death. T he only uncertainty about it is t he t ime of your death. H ence the wisdom of taking life insur­ance, which, in many instances, may be the only way of providing an amount of money at that time.

If you wri te us, stat ing age, we will send you figures for either one of our six contra~b : Or dinary L ife, T wenty P ayment Life, Endowment at age Sev­enty, Twenty Year or Thirty Year Endowment. Speak with local agent or y our pastor, or address us as fo llows :

GERMAN BAPT IST S' L I FE ASSOCIATION, 19 Sprenger Ave., Buffalo, N. Y.

(To be continued next month)

THE BAPTIST HERALD

What's Happening

The Hoboken Sunday School Associa­tion, of which Rev. Wm. L. Schoeffel is p resident, had a ve ry successful excur ­sion up t he Hudson r iver to Ind ian P oin t Park. 1900 passenger s were on boa rd. All Sunday school children wer e carried free.

During June, the E ditor of the " Her­ald" was privileged to visit the Dakota Confe1·ence at Avon , S. D., and the P a­cific Conference a t Anaheim, Cal. A t both conferences he was g iven good op­portunity to present t he claims of our Young People's a nd Sunday school work. During J uly he will t ake par t in the In­stitute at Mound , Minn., and v isit the Texas Conference at Dallas, where he is scheduled for six· addresses.

Rev. H. F. Schade has accepted the call of the Grace Baptist church as suc­cessor to Rev. H . F. H oops. H e has supplied the church for sever al months. H is fam ily moves to Racine August fi r st.

The Young People's a nd Sunday School Workers' Union of t he Lake On­tario Distr ict is arranging fo r a Sum­mer Assembly a nd Institu te at Dunki r k, N. Y., Aug. 4-11. Dunkirk is on t he shor es of Lake E r ie and excursion rates to Niagara F alls and Buffa lo a t reduced far es will curtail expense. We hope many of the young people in the d istrict will plan to spend their vacation at Dunkirk.

On Sunday, May 18, the Canton Ohio Ger man Baptist Church was filled wi t h the members and their fr iends who ca me to see ten newly born souls follow t he Lord i n ba pt ism. The Young P eople were g reatly blessed dur ing the evan­gelistic ser vices conducted by our pas­tor , Rev. H ilko Swyter. It was wonder ­ful to wit ness the power of God dra w s inners to t he foot of the cross ; to see men a nd women who had hardened t heir hear ts against accepting t he Savior , break down and cr y for par don. This s trengthened our fai th and led us to consecrate ourselves anew to our Lord and Master. We r ejoice that sever a l of our Young P eople accepted J esus as their personal Savior. May we live to g lorify our Master ! is our prayer.

H . E.G.

Misplaced Matter An ounce of ni trate in the parlor is

di r t, but in t he corn field it is fert ilizer. Unconnected observations a nd disjoin ted ideas are misplaced thoughts. Most of the observations passing th roug·h our minds are useful-if we had a habit of using t hem, of finding their place and fitt ing them i nto place.

WHEN I N BROOKLYN Do OS t h e

CRUSADERS BIBLE CLASS does

T h ese young men meet ever~ Sunday at 10 A. M. for the Stud y of God s Word at t h e Second German Baptist Ch urch

Woodbine St., cor. Evergreen Ave . WELCOME WELCOME