ILLUSTRATED CATALOGUE AND "TOUCH" TYPEWRITING INSTRUCTION BOOK FREE The Smith Premier Typewriter Co. No. 338 Broadway NEW YORK CITY Proceedings, Essays and Debates AT THE FIRST General Conference of Lutherans in America, HELD IN Philadelphia, Dee. 27-29, 1898. This volume consists of 339 pages printed on laid paper, from clear, legible type, with illustrations of the buildings in which the sessions were held. It is handsomely bound in cloth, with gilt side and back title, making an acceptable addition to the library of the pastor or layman. once. As the edition is limited, orders should be sent at Price $1.50 Net, Postpaid. When three or more copies are ordered at one time to be sent to one address a special discount of twenty per cent. will be allowed. Remittances by money order, check or draft should accompany all orders. Lutheran Publication Society, 1424 Arch St., Philadelphia, Pa. THE GENERAL COUNCIL LITERATURE 6 YEAR 4 YEARS 22 YEAR HISTORY BIBLE STORY YEAR It will be of advantage to examine the excellence of the method and matter, together with lowness of prices of this series, when Sunday school Literature is under consideration. Subscriptions may begin any time, but quarterly publications are not furnished for a less period than three months. but at same rate as by the year. Samples and descriptive circulars will cheerfully be sent upon application. Order should be accompanied by check, postal or express money order, or if in small amounts, unused postage stamps will be accepted in payment. General Council Publication House, 1522 Arch St., Philadelphia. CHAS, B. OPP, Manager. 4 Irving College for Young Women, Mechanicsburg Pa. is located in the most beautiful part of the far-famed Cumberland Valley, but fifteen minutes' ride from Harrisburg. Chartered to confer degrees in 1857 by the State Legislature. The most largely patronized College for young women in the Lutheran Church. Faculty large, experienced and able. None but desirable students wanted. Classical, Scientific and Special courses. Full Music Conservatory course. Superior advantages in Art and Oratory. Steam heat; electric light; hot and cold water, etc. Rooms specially attractive. Send for catalogue. E. E. CAMPBELL, Ph.D., President. Carthage College, CARTHAGE, ILLINOIS, Instruction in Vocal and Instrumental Music, Art, Elocution, Physical Culture, Normal and Commercial Branches, in addition to the Standard Classical and Scientific Courses of leading Colleges and Academies. Ladies' Dormitory to be opened with entirely new furnish. ings. All buildings fitted with modern conventences. Expenses $125 to $175 per annum. For new catalogue or information, apply to the president. FREDERICK L. SIGMUND, Carthage, Illinois. American Standard Edition of the REVISED is being accepted wherever the English language is "The standard translation of the Bible for the Englishspeaking world."-Sunday School Times. "The most excellent translation of the Holy Scriptures ever published in the English tongue."-The Interior. With references and topical headings prepared by the Revisers. Long Primer 4to, White Paper Edition, $1.50 to $9.00. THOMAS NELSON & SONS, Pub's HARTWICK SEMINARY, New York, MUHLENBERG - COLLEGE, The Oldest Lutheran School in America. Send for Catalogue to REV. J. G. TRAVER, A. M., Principal, HARTWICK SEMINARY, Otsego Co., N. Y. Pennsylvania College, Gettysburg, Pa. Founded in 1832. Large Faculty. Classical, Sciencific and Special Courses. Observatory thoroughly equipped. Chemical Hall and Gymnasium containing all the modern appliances. Six buildings. Steam heat. Libraries, 22,000 volumes. Expenses low. Location pleasant and healthy. Preparatory Department, in separate building, under special care of the Principal and three assistants. For Catalogue address H. W. MCKNIGHT, D.D., President, ALLENTOWN, PA. Reached by the Lehigh Valley, Jersey Central and This is THE COLLEGE for our Lutheran THE COLLEGE DEPARTMENT Furnishes full Classical and Scientific courses of four THE ACADEMIC DEPARTMENT Meneely Bell Company, WITTENBERG COLLEGE TROY, N. Y., -AND 177 Broadway, NEW YORK, Manufacture Superior Church BELLS. MUSIC AND ART CONSERVATORIES, COLLEGIATE AND ACADEMIC DEPARTMENTS. FOUNDED in 1845. Classics, Mathematics, Science, Philosophy, History, Economics, Modern Languages, Music, Art. Chemical and Physical Laboratories, Gymnasium, Athletic Park, etc., Seven Buildings. Free ac cess to 30,000 volumes. Ferncliff Hall for ladies, under the care of a matron. Fine campus of 40 acres. Instruction tborough. Expenses moderate. For catalogue address B. F. PRINCE, Librarian, Springfield, O. IN Of the Church-By the Church-For the Church Luther League A Prairie Sod Church The German Lutheran Church in Dawson County, Neb. N the days when the great Western section of our country was receiving its white inhabitants, a number of German families settled in Dawson County, Nebraska. Many of them had to content themselves with dugouts for homes, and though there was among them a pastor, the Rev. Thoele, who has since died, there could not shelter on the prairie, dedicated to the worship of Almighty God. The story fairly represents one of the kinds of work being done by Synods and Mission Boards. New congregations are helped to secure ministers and build houses of worship. No locality is exempt from need of such assistance. Some of the strongest churches in New York, be a church building, because there were no funds to spare to erect one. But these devout people determined to have, at the start, a house of worship, so they built the sod house shown in the accompanying engraving. The total cost was $68, a part of which was paid by the church at large. This is said to be the only sod church ever built by people of the General Synod, to which this congregation belonged. Visits to it were made by the secretaries of the Mission Board, and over and over again did they relate the romantic story of this rude Chicago, and other great cities, could not have been founded without the help of these Mission Boards; now, those who received help are, in turn, helping others. From ocean to ocean stretches an unbroken chain of these monuments to the faith and devotion of Lutheran Christian people. The sequel to this brief sketch of the sod church on the prairie is somewhat pathetic. Its earthy walls have fallen into decay, and the community of which it was the center has dispersed. It was located within the region of prevailing droughts. Repeated failures of harvest compelled the people to abandon their farms and begin again, under less sunny but more friendly skies, the battle for comfortable homes and the blessings of organized society. Wherever that battle was renewed no doubt there was built a house whose cross-crowned vertex bore testimony to its sacred purpose. L Lent BY REV. S. S, WALTZ, D D. ENT, as we think it, is far more and better than a formal season prescribed by ecclesiastical rules in which people are to abstain from certain meats and amusements. It is a time when the Christian gladly accepts the invitation of the Saviour to come apart and rest awhile with Him in holy meditation and in prayer. It is walking with Him in holy memory along that last journey to Jerusalem that ended in His sacrificial death and in His glorious resurrection. It is a season, not of idleness, but of intense activity in the Master's service. Such a time as this, not by law, but by love, leads us to abstain from those worldly amusements and habits that disturb the heart's communion with Christ and hinder our close walk with Him. In the hurry and the worry of the year, with its mingled cares and pleasures, its vexations and its temptations, since last we held this holy fast with Jesus, much of our ardor for Him has failed and many of our good resolutions have passed into neglect. Last Easter was to us a sort of transfiguration in which we saw "Jesus only," and resolved always to remain in His blessed presence. We came down into the plane of common duty and soon were turned aside from our close walk with Him, to mingle with the busy throng; perchance to share the ways of a sinful world. We need again the voice of the Master bidding us come back to Him in love and earnest service. Lent is the voice of Jesus saying unto all, "Come unto Me." Some are weary with a burden of sorrow. It invites you to a precious resting place. Some are under the galling yoke of sin. It calls on them to put off the soul's unbearable burden on Him who is our sin bearer. Some have tried in vain to find heart's rest in the world's pleasures and amusements. Lent calls them to Jesus, whose service is a continual delight and in whose presence there are pleasures that never fail. Many whose daily duties of home and trade are a consuming care long for a respite and a resting place. There is no rest for weary minds and hearts like that which Jcsus offers. Lent is Heaven's voice of love to a world weary with care, saying "Cast thy burden on Him." Most of all, and sad dest of all, many have, during the year, found Christian duty a burden rather than a delight The daily reading of God's Word grew sc irksome that it was often omitted. Prayer, instead of being a blessed conversation with God, was a cold and formal, heartless exercise and often forgotten. Giving to God's cause, instead of being a joyful privilege, was done grudgingly, stingily, and hence without a blessing. The worship of God's House meant so little to some that with slight excuse it was often neglected. All such half hearted Christian living is a burden and not a joy. Lent calls us to something better. It calls us to a reverent reading of God's Word, as one reads a loving message from home. It calls us to prayer that is telling God our daily needs in the confident assurance that He will supply them out of His fullness. It calls us to daily living such as will make us witnesses for Christ. It calls us to giving that means the glad and willing sacrifice of our own pleasures in order that God's cause may have abundance. It means such a reverent love for Christ's Church that we hail the hour of worship with delight and hasten to its sacred courts. It means that when Christ and conflicting interests come to us, be they of social, business or of any selfish character, we shall put first the Kingdom of God. Lent is the call of God to holy meditation and noble living. It purges the heart of self and sin and gives it the uplift of purity and of faith. It closes the door of a poorly spent past and points the way to a useful and a happy future. Let us make the Lenten time on which we will soon enter such as our Master would have it be, and the fragrance of its memories will go with us as a benediction in all the coming days. So shall we live the nearer to our Lord, The inner side of every cloud Is bright and shining; -JAMES WHITCOMB RILEY. A CIRCLET OF By Leander S. RARE JEWELS ARY ORK H Keyser, D.D. Author of Birds of the Rockies," In Bird Land," "John Westoff," etc. Chapter 1.-Profession and Practice AVE you ever known a society of young people-or old people, either, for that matter-who were wholly consistent? If you have, they might well have been called a circlet of rare jewels," for in this strange, contradictory world consistency is something of a rare quality. However, the society that I expect to picture in this story was made up of members who, for the most part, were as consistent with their Christian profession as human nature would permit them to be. I said "human nature," did I not? It was not human nature in the raw state, however, but human nature regenerated and fashioned by the grace of God. Of course, there were some exceptions in the Luther League of St. John's, the society in question, and they must have their part in the story, else it would not be true to life as we find it. Everywhere the good and the bad are more or less mingled in this world, and I suppose it will always be so until the dawn of the millennium. However, it is gratifying to know that so many members of the League were consistent, for that is more encouraging than it would have been had the conditions been the reverse. There was Edna Wilson-but you will see in good time whether she was one of the "rare jewels" or not. An incident that occurred one Sunday evening furnished a test of her character, and a clew at the same time. There was a young man in the city who was beginning to show a marked preference for Edna's society. He was tall and handsome and gifted, and had a good reputation for morality in the community, but was not a Christian. Yet he was fond of going to the Lutheran Church when it suited him, and especially of attending the Sunday evening meetings of the young people's society. Just how much of a magnet Edna proved to draw him to the services at St. John's may not be told, for the question of motives is rather a complex one. At all events, he went there quite frequently, and more than once as the escort of pretty Edna Wilson, who, it may be whispered, was not averse to his attentions. TOR, LENOX AND TILDEN FOUNDATIONS One Sunday evening in the beautiful month of June, while the brown thrashers and robins were singing their vespers, the young couple were on their way to St. John's Church to attend the meeting of the Luther League, which was held before the evening preaching service. Shortly before they reached the church, the young man asked: "What is the subject of the meeting this evening?" "How to Observe the Lord's Day,'” Edna answered, promptly. "Ah! I see you know," he laughed. "I've known young folks, members of the society, too, to go to the meeting without knowing what the topic was. I see that's not your way." 66 'No, indeed," she replied, without any pretense of superior goodness. "I think it just as much my duty to study the topic before the meeting, and be prepared to give some thought upon it, as it is the minister's duty to have his sermon well prepared before he goes into the pulpit." "Perhaps you are to lead the meeting tonight," he twitted; "that may be the reason you have made such careful preparation." "Oh! no, Mr. Frederic; I'm not the leader to-night, and won't be for four weeks. I always study the lesson whether I am to lead the meeting or not. Every member of the League should come prepared to take an effective part in every meeting, if a chance is afforded." "You don't think, then, that the members ought to wait until the meeting, and then say whatever comes into their minds, ha! ha!" "Oh! no, not as a rule. That might do for a few times, but it would soon drift into repeating commonplaces, and wouldn't edify. The only way to keep the meetings fresh, interesting and instructive is for the members to prepare well beforehand, coming with thoughts that are well digested. Impromptu speeches are all well enough on occasion, but we need better mental and spiritual food for our daily and regular fare." "Well, I suppose you're right. I don't profess to be well posted on such matters. However, I'm interested in the topic to-night. I want to know what estimate you young |