LUTHER LEAGUE TOPICS

pitals and hospices, to teach and preach the Gospel of Salvation and to do innumerable other works of mercy.

FOR SPECIAL STUDY.

1. The growing appreciation of the Protestant Reformation by great leaders. 2. How to stimulate every Leaguer to study Luther and the Reformation.

3. The relation of the Constitution of the United States to Luther's Ninety-five Theses.

4. What churches have autocratic forms of church government?

5. Practical proofs of the universal priesthood of believers.

The Ministerium of Pennsylvania at its last convention adopted the following: "Any male communicant of the Lutheran Church, of full age and the proper qualifications, may serve as lay reader in the church of which he is a member, and may read such portions of the service as the pastor may direct, and also a sermon approved by the pastor, when the latter is absent. Under the direction of his pastor he may conduct similar services in parish missions, rendering a monthly report to the church council." Notice was also given of an amendment to the constitution providing for the appointment of synodical lay readers to be commissioned by the president of the Ministerium.

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DIFFERENT BRANDS OF COURAGE

There are different kinds of courage, and just because a man possesses in a high degree one brand is no reason why he should possess all other degrees of bravery. This was aptly illustrated by the famous cartoon of the structural ironworker, standing on the dizzy edge of a swinging beam three hundred feet above the street, who said, "Look, Mike, at those people dodging across the streets in front of automobiles. It makes me tremble to think of the risks they run." Another illustration was given the other day when the foreman of a gang of shipworkers in a Delaware River yard was approached by a young man who said he wanted to quit his job because he could not stand the strain of the escaping air pressure in the automatic drills. "You are a fine specimen," sarcastically observed the foreman. "How long have you had this job?" "Three days." "What did you do before?" "I was in the army." "I'll bet you were in some safe place," said the foreman. The young workman was calm. "Yes," he said, "I was pretty safe. I was an aviator."

-The great drive staged by the Lutheran Laymen's League of the Missouri Synod for a permanent endowment fund for the support of incapacitated professors, pastors and teachers and their widows and orphans has so far yielded $1,421,161.08, according to the treasurer's report of June 16.

Charter provides for degrees.

GOOD COMPANY

One of the objects of the Luther League is to promote friendship and acquaintance among our Lutheran young people. It proposes to guard our young people against dangerous and vicious associates. One of the dangers besetting our young people is unworthy friends and bad companionship. Of the value of good association, one of our pastors has the following excellent observation in a recent number of his parish paper:

"Let no young man or woman go into a social circle where the influences are vicious, or hostile to the Christian religion. You will begin by reproving their faults and end by copying them. Sin is contagious. You go among those who are profane, and you will be profane. Go among those who are given to strong drink, and you will inevitably become an inebriate. There is no exception to the rule. A man is no better than the company he continually keeps. It is always best to keep ourselves under Christian influences. It is not possible, if you mingle in associations that are positively Christian, not to be made better men or women. The Christian people with whom you may associate may not be always talking their religion, but there is something in the moral atmosphere that will be life to your soul."

POOR MERE MAN!

To start learning roller skating at the age of forty, and at the weight of twenty stone, is rather a daring act, but Mrs. Overweight was trying her luck.

On one occasion of her weird evolutions she landed plump on the floor, and several attendants rushed to her rescue.

For ten minutes they made strenuous efforts to raise her prodigious weight, but were quite unsuccessful.

"We'll get you up in a minute," ventured one soothingly. "Don't worry."

"I'm not worrying about that," replied Mrs. Overweight. "But it's horrid; your floor is so lumpy!"

"I'm not a lump," came a voice from underneath. "I'm the instructor!"-An

swers.

Although Palestine has been virtually set apart for a Jewish state, the Jews themselves are divided in their attitude toward the old homeland. The Zionists look upon it as a veritable refuge, while the antiZionists prefer to share the civilization of the nations. Meanwhile, the Christian Jews, whose numbers are increasing, are outcasts among their own people, and do not feel at home in Gentile churches. With some central organization they might prove a prominent factor in the future of the Holy Land.

Petrograd would not be considered a Lutheran city, yet there are more Lutherans there than in many cities of our own land. In eighteen large church buildings services are held in six different languages for more than 100,000 members. Amid the dire conditions in Russia and with a dearth of authetic information, we have grave fears for the safety of these congregations, for Bolshevism will not make many converts among Lutherans. For Russia's sake, as well as their own, we trust that this strong evangelical element will not be totally destroyed. The righteous few may yet save a city.

It is not so serious a thing to make a mistake as it is to try to cover it up and to pretend that it was not a mistake at all. Some young people show a foolish loyalty to their blunders. Instead of repudiating them, they make a pathetic effort to stand by them as if having once committed them, they were in duty bound to declare them right. And so the original mistake becomes a twin. When you make a mistake, acknowledge it frankly. Otherwise you have made two.