Which Is the Better Wn.yf

CH~\PEL AT KINGS LANDING. - This building was the gift of our congregations to the Mission ' Board, a token of appreciation for the many deeds of loYe nnd kindness received from our host of supporters. It is to show how deeply we are grateful to God for His blessings which have come to us through the Lutheran Church. Is it due to this that God has particularly blessed the work at Kings

Landing? To Goo ALONE ALL GLORY for the success of the year just ended! We have in Alabama a fine and zealous staff of missionaries. But unless God gives success, those thlit labor will labor in vain, regardless of how apt and zealous they mny be.

This God teaches us continually. To Him alone all praise and honor and glory! And may it please

Him in His. grace to bless our professors, teachers, pastors, members, n.nd children also during 1926 !

Yes, may He bless His whole Christian Church in these last sore and evil days, so tliat thousands still outside the fold of Christ be gathered in before it is too late! G. A. SCHMIDT. Which Is the Better Way?

The 'way of the World or the Way of the Church t

Which is the better way to provide for the needs of the Yeterans of the Cross, the way of the Law or the way of the Gospel, the way of the world or the way of the Church? THE WAY OF THE WORLD. - When the soldier returns handicapped from the war, the world answers with hospital, sanitarium, relief, rehabilitation, pension, and soldiers' home. Such is the natural response under the system of taxation, under the law. ·

THE WAY OF THE CHURCH. - When the Veterans of the Cross and their dependents appeal to us in their extremity, what is the answer of the

Church, under the Gospel? Prior to 1917, under

District management, there was no permanently reliable nor generally adequate support for the invalid" pastors, teachers, professors, and tlieir needy widows and orphans. Since 1917 Synod's answer, under unified control, was : Systematic and proportionate support for all worthy and needy cases.

It could be such because the answer o1 the membership at large was: Contributions by budget, legacies, personal contributions from many pastors and teachers, as in the past, to a permanent fund and, last, but not ·1east, $2,300,000 from the Lutheran Laymen's League for an endowment fund.

But, remember, in 1924 the answer of the people of the Church was: A deficit of $21,168.68, or, instead of $100,000 under the budget, only $78,831.32.

Remember, also, of n projected $3,000,000 endowment only $2,300,000, up to 1923, could be given to Synod for the Veterans of the Cross. Remember, such was the answer in the face of the fact that, in a growing body, since always more men are going into the :fighting lines, more men must also return incapacitated and at once or in their dying hour appeal to us in behalf of their loved ones. Unquestionably there is need for a larger endowment fund, a full $3,000,000.

Youn ANSWER TO THE PREVIOUS QuESTIO~. -

Can you, standing in the light of the Gospel, say,

The better way is the way of the world and not the way of the Church, the ·way of the Law and not the way of the Gospel? Is it true that fighting a few years for your country secures a greater reward for a man than fighting a lifetime for your Church?

What, accordingly, will be your answer to the appeal of · the Lutheran Laymen's League to add $790,000 or more to the Permanent Enclowme~t

Fund in support of the Veterans of the Cross?

What is you1· word to the V ete1·a11s '? To the 175 invalids and superannuates, former pastors, teachers, and missionaries, who together represent about 6,450 years of a~tive service? To the men who went into the wilderness and frontier, into the sparsely settled and poor community, into the difficult mission-field, into the poor section of the city?

To the men who carriecl the church out of barns and housed it in consecrated buildings? To the men who turned their backs to preferment, who stopped their ears to promises of ambition, and who co;unted all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus? What is your _ word tothe Veteran? Will you pass Jilin by and promptly forget about the appeal to the endowment fund?

What is yo1tr ,uord to the Board of S 1i11po1·t r

Reduce your monthly allowance, at present averaging $50 for husband ~nd wife, $25 for widow, and $10 for a child? Would you authorize your Board to say to your 1,243 claimants: ''We disbursed, iz:i your behalf, $214,388.13 during 1924, but never again"? Shall that be the word to 175 servants of the Word, 120 of whom are over sixty years old, 25 nervous wrecks, ten afflicted with tuberculosis, · several blind, deaf, and paralyzed? Shall the

Board say: "Never again such support" to the 316 widows, the majority of whom are ad:,mnced in years, some stricken with disease, and many of