The Press., 1892-12-08
w. e. T. U. DEPARTMENT.

Oouo OL uS nave SooH tndI Ill your unlOn there is the germ and shadowy outline of the civic church of the future. You were like Saul, the son of Kish, who went seek ing his fathers asses, and found the prophet who anointed him king of Israel You began by crusading against the sa- loon, and To! you have laid the founda- tiOns of the new church, which will be composed, or federated, from all the churches cooperating in the great work of the salvation of society. You have begun to bring into being the American conception of the humanized and demo- cratic form of the Catholic church. It is the great want of the world-to interpret the Fatherhood of God and the mother hood of the church.
 Has the Woman's Christian Temper ance Union of to-day reason for exist ence?
 The time when individual, party, orga- nization, or even the church itself, could live upon a past record, be that record never so glorious, has long since gone by. '.Aot! act in the living present." is the motto by which, consciously, all things are to-day gauged. "What have you done? ?" fades into absolute insignificance before the transcendent importance of the oorrelative question, "What are you do- ing?" The world no longer deifies the dead past; it has learned that for it's veal ,or woe, 1t must look to the living heart-throbs of the present.
 The causes contributing to our first be- ing are unhesitatingly conceded. The good we have thus far accomplished is universally acknowledged; "but' and here comes in that ominous pause-''is not the work done? If SO, why continue the form of the organization ?" cor, if not done, are there not other forces, oth- CT agencies, some of them evolved since the w. c. T. U. came into being, capable of carrying on it's work more efficiently J In country unions especially do we meet this problem, and find that it carries with it constant temptation to dissolve the organization of the union and unite with the Relief Corps, the Home Missionary Society, the Christian Endeavor, Kings Daughters, the Daughters of Rebecea Sons of Temperance, or kindred societies We gladly concede the good in eacf and all of these organizations we ques tion not the motives which called then n hQinn 1ich Inv them; and yet we can but feel that ont of the dangerous tendencies of this age is that which leads to a multiplicity of or ganizations; that if one organization car be found which combines the best ele ments in all the others, that organization especially since 'the time is short" /" is tn, one which comes to all with the stronges claim for attention.
 Can we substantiate our claim that tn, w. c. U. T. is this all-embracing orga nization? Let us see.
 | What do it's forty-three distinct depart ments mean except that it is carrying on quietly and consistently, every knownlin of reform? Starting with the two-fol, idea of reforming the individual drunkar' and abolishing the saloon, it had not gon far in it's march toward victory, before learned that each evil is related to al evil that in striking blow at one forn of sin, we are met straightway by all oth CT forms of sin, and that the successful reform movement of the future must b made up of countless movements ane, e pluribus unum. In no other single ol ganization can the mere fact of member ship ally one with so many of the force making for righteousness all over tn world And that, too, not merely wit those forces which have their outwar manifestations, but with those deeper ly ing forces so seldom recognized becaus working so far beneath the surface.
 A class of critics is inclined to rebuk us because we have merged our though for the "drunkard" into our fight for tn buke is merited. Our women, we ar sure, have never gotten away from the thought for the individual in their strue gle for the universal but, if it were true is not the universal moro than the ind
 vidual? Must net our reform work
 always less than our work of building u the thew heaven and the new eartl
 wherein shall dwell righteousness"- -tf
 establishment of a society in which r. form work shall be henceforth and fo
 ever unnecessary?
 Our great society is pre-eminently tt
 John the Baptist of this age, crying, n'
 in words but deeds as we'll, Prepare }
 the way of the Lord, make His patti
 straight" We have really caught u
 Masters interpretation of His own pray,
 -"Thy will be done on earth as it is
 Heaven" "The kingdom of Heaver
 has come to mean to us not the life aft
 death, but what it meant to Him wi
 used the phrase so often, kingdom
 Heavens life, Heavens love, Heaven impulses built up here on earth, work'